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Zhong G, Wan G, Zhang Y, Zhao H, Wang L, Liang W. Nest desertion as an anti-parasitism strategy in hosts selects for late egg-laying behavior in cuckoos. iScience 2023; 26:108156. [PMID: 37965152 PMCID: PMC10641250 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2023] [Revised: 07/13/2023] [Accepted: 10/04/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Studies have shown that brood parasites lay their eggs early in the egg-laying sequence of their hosts, providing them with the advantage of earlier hatching. However, common cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) appear to parasitize the nests of gray bushchat (Saxicola ferreus) during the late egg-laying stage. The bushchat often abandons parasitized nests in the early stages, but not in the late egg-laying stages, thus favoring late egg-laying by cuckoos. In this study, four experiments were conducted to determine whether gray bushchats employ a nest desertion strategy targeted at cuckoo parasitism. The results showed that nest desertion was significantly correlated with parasitism cues and occurred mainly during the hosts' early egg-laying stage. Our study provides the first experimental evidence that nest desertion is an anti-parasitic strategy used by hosts in response to cuckoos. Additionally, our experiments demonstrated that the nest desertion is influenced by the trade-offs of investments in different egg-laying stages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guo Zhong
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Ecology of Tropical Islands, College of Life Sciences, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
| | - Guixia Wan
- School of Life Sciences, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550001, China
| | - Yuhan Zhang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Ecology of Tropical Islands, College of Life Sciences, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
| | - Huahua Zhao
- School of Life Sciences, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550001, China
| | - Longwu Wang
- School of Life Sciences, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550001, China
| | - Wei Liang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Ecology of Tropical Islands, College of Life Sciences, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
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Attisano A, Gill BJ, Anderson MG, Gula R, Langmore NE, Okahisa Y, Sato NJ, Tanaka KD, Thorogood R, Ueda K, Theuerkauf J. Polymorphism at the nestling stage and host-specific mimicry in an Australasian cuckoo-host arms race. J Anim Ecol 2023; 92:30-43. [PMID: 36426636 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13849] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2022] [Accepted: 11/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Decades of research have shown that the coevolutionary arms race between avian brood parasites and their hosts can promote phenotypic diversification in hosts and brood parasites. However, relatively little is known about the role of brood parasitism in promoting phenotypic diversification of nestlings. We review field data collected over four decades in Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand to assess potential for coevolutionary interactions between the shining bronze-cuckoo (Chalcites lucidus) and its hosts, and how diversification at the nestling stage may be generating different subspecies. The shining bronze-cuckoo is a specialist parasite of a few hosts in the family Acanthizidae. It has diversified into subspecies, of which the nestlings closely mimic the respective host nestlings in each region. Additionally, some cuckoo subspecies have polymorphic nestlings. The Acanthizidae hosts have similar breeding and nesting habits and only moderately effective frontline defences against parasitism at cuckoo egg laying or at the egg stages. However, some hosts have developed highly effective defences at the nestling stage by recognising and ejecting cuckoo nestlings from the nest. As with the cuckoo nestlings, some hosts have polymorphic nestlings. The coevolutionary interactions in each region suggest different evolutionary stages of the arms race in which either the parasite or the host is currently in the lead. The presence of moderately effective defences at the egg laying and egg stages might explain why some hosts do not have defences at the nestling stage. The south-Pacific cuckoo - host systems are excellent models to explore the evolutionary mechanisms driving the diversification at the nestling stage in the coevolutionary arms race between avian brood parasites and their hosts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alfredo Attisano
- Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Brian J Gill
- Auckland Museum (retired), Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Michael G Anderson
- School of Natural Sciences, Auckland Campus, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Roman Gula
- Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Naomi E Langmore
- Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | | | | | | | - Rose Thorogood
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.,HiLIFE Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.,Research programme in Organismal and Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | | | - Jörn Theuerkauf
- Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
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Attisano A, Sato NJ, Tanaka KD, Okahisa Y, Ueda K, Gula R, Theuerkauf J. Discrimination and ejection of eggs and nestlings by the fan-tailed gerygone from New Caledonia. Curr Zool 2021; 67:653-663. [PMID: 34805543 PMCID: PMC8599088 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoab066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2021] [Accepted: 08/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Nestling rejection is a rare type of host defense against brood parasitism compared with egg rejection. Theoretically, host defenses at both egg and nestling stages could be based on similar underlying discrimination mechanisms but, due to the rarity of nestling rejector hosts, few studies have actually tested this hypothesis. We investigated egg and nestling discrimination by the fan-tailed gerygone Gerygone flavolateralis, a host that seemingly accepts nonmimetic eggs of its parasite, the shining bronze-cuckoo Chalcites lucidus, but ejects mimetic parasite nestlings. We introduced artificial eggs or nestlings and foreign gerygone nestlings in gerygone nests and compared begging calls of parasite and host nestlings. We found that the gerygone ejected artificial eggs only if their size was smaller than the parasite or host eggs. Ejection of artificial nestlings did not depend on whether their color matched that of the brood. The frequency of ejection increased during the course of the breeding season mirroring the increase in ejection frequency of parasite nestlings by the host. Cross-fostered gerygone nestlings were frequently ejected when lacking natal down and when introduced in the nest before hatching of the foster brood, but only occasionally when they did not match the color of the foster brood. Begging calls differed significantly between parasite and host nestlings throughout the nestling period. Our results suggest that the fan-tailed gerygone accepts eggs within the size range of gerygone and cuckoo eggs and that nestling discrimination is based on auditory and visual cues other than skin color. This highlights the importance of using a combined approach to study discrimination mechanisms of hosts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alfredo Attisano
- Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | | | - Keita D Tanaka
- Department of Life Sciences, Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Yuji Okahisa
- Department of Life Sciences, Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Keisuke Ueda
- Department of Life Sciences, Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Roman Gula
- Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Jörn Theuerkauf
- Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
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Wang J, Yang C. Specific responses of cuckoo hosts to different alarm signals according to breeding stage: a test of the offspring value hypothesis. Curr Zool 2020; 66:649-655. [PMID: 33391364 PMCID: PMC7769587 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoaa021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2020] [Accepted: 05/11/2020] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The selective pressure exerted by avian brood parasites forces their hosts to evolve specific defense strategies. When subject to brood parasite attack, avian hosts will often emit alarm calls. To date, few studies have examined whether and how host responses to different alarm calls indicative of different enemies vary with the host's breeding stage. We carried out alarm call playback experiments during both the egg and nestling stages of the oriental reed warbler Acrocephalus orientalis, a host of the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus. The playback exemplars were selected from recorded alarm calls of the warbler to the presence of common cuckoos, sparrowhawks Accipiter nisus, and oriental turtle doves Streptopelia orientalis, which represented brood parasite, predator, and harmless control, respectively. The results showed that the oriental reed warblers did not discriminate alarm calls issued to different intruder types, but the intensity of the response was significantly higher in the nestling stage than in the egg stage. Attack behavior related to sparrowhawk alarm calls was absent in the egg stage, but aggressive behavior increased dramatically and exceeded the attack frequency in response to the cuckoo alarm call in the nestling stage, implying a shift in the tradeoff between the parents' own survival and the loss of offspring. Alarm calls attracted a larger number of conspecifics than members of other species. In general, the oriental reed warbler had consistently stronger responses to different alarm calls in the nestling stage than in the egg stage, supporting the offspring value hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiaojiao Wang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Ecology of Tropical Islands, College of Life Sciences, Hainan Normal University, Haikou, 571158, China
| | - Canchao Yang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Ecology of Tropical Islands, College of Life Sciences, Hainan Normal University, Haikou, 571158, China
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Medina I, Kilner RM, Langmore NE. From micro- to macroevolution: brood parasitism as a driver of phenotypic diversity in birds. Curr Zool 2020; 66:515-526. [PMID: 33293930 PMCID: PMC7705515 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoaa033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2020] [Accepted: 06/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
A fundamental question in biology is how diversity evolves and why some clades are more diverse than others. Phenotypic diversity has often been shown to result from morphological adaptation to different habitats. The role of behavioral interactions as a driver of broadscale phenotypic diversity has received comparatively less attention. Behavioral interactions, however, are a key agent of natural selection. Antagonistic behavioral interactions with predators or with parasites can have significant fitness consequences, and hence act as strong evolutionary forces on the phenotype of species, ultimately generating diversity between species of both victims and exploiters. Avian obligate brood parasites lay their eggs in the nests of other species, their hosts, and this behavioral interaction between hosts and parasites is often considered one of the best examples of coevolution in the natural world. In this review, we use the coevolution between brood parasites and their hosts to illustrate the potential of behavioral interactions to drive evolution of phenotypic diversity at different taxonomic scales. We provide a bridge between behavioral ecology and macroevolution by describing how this interaction has increased avian phenotypic diversity not only in the brood parasitic clades but also in their hosts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iliana Medina
- School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia
| | - Rebecca M Kilner
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK
| | - Naomi E Langmore
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
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