Preferential allocation of food by magpies Pica pica to great spotted cuckoo Clamator glandarius chicks

1995 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Soler ◽  
Juan Gabriel Martinez ◽  
Juan Jose Soler ◽  
Anders Pape Møller
Keyword(s):  
Pica Pica ◽  
Clamator Glandarius

Nest defence by Magpies(Pica pica) and the brood parasitic Great Spotted Cuckoos(Clamator glandarius) in parasitized and unparasitized nests

1999 ◽  
Vol 140 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Soler ◽  
Juan Gabriel Martínez ◽  
Juan José Soler
Keyword(s):  
Nest Defence ◽  
Pica Pica ◽  
Clamator Glandarius

Begging behaviour and its energetic cost in great spotted cuckoo and magpie host chicks

1999 ◽  
Vol 77 (11) ◽  
pp. 1794-1800 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Soler ◽  
Juan J Soler ◽  
Juan G Martínez ◽  
Juan Moreno
Keyword(s):  
Communication Theory ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Food Delivery ◽  
Energetic Cost ◽  
Pica Pica ◽  
Doubly Labelled Water ◽  
Clamator Glandarius ◽  
Begging Behaviour ◽  
Daily Energy ◽  
Main Factors

Begging is one of the main factors governing food delivery to chicks by adult birds and it is of great importance in studies of biological communication theory. Many theoretical models have been proposed to explain the evolution of this noisy and conspicuous behaviour, all of which assume that begging activity is energetically costly. We show that both great spotted cuckoo (Clamator glandarius) brood-parasitic chicks and magpie (Pica pica) host chicks ceased to beg after ingesting enough food, and that great spotted cuckoo chicks emitted more begging calls and begged for much longer than did magpie chicks. Using the doubly labelled water method to measure the daily energy expenditure of begging and nonbegging chicks in the laboratory, we show that begging behaviour consumes only a small quantity of oxygen compared with other avian activities usually assumed to be energetically costly.

scholarly journals Great spotted cuckoos show dynamic patterns of host selection during the breeding season. The importance of laying stage and parasitism status of magpie nests

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 467-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Soler ◽  
Tomás Pérez-Contreras ◽  
Juan José Soler
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Season ◽  
Host Selection ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Offspring Survival ◽  
Brood Parasite ◽  
Pica Pica ◽  
Clamator Glandarius ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Brood Parasites ◽  
Host Interaction

Abstract Avian brood parasites depend entirely on their hosts to raise their nestlings until independence. Thus, parasite females should select suitable host nests for egg laying according to traits that enhance offspring survival. The availability of nests of certain characteristics influencing the survival of parasitic offspring is, however, temporally dynamic and, thus, patterns of host selection should be evaluated considering characteristics of available host nests the day of parasitism. This allows detecting possible seasonal changes and, therefore, a more realistic picture of host selection by brood parasites. In this paper, we adopt such a new approach and consider daily availability of magpie (Pica pica) host nests at different breeding stage that were or were not parasitized by the great spotted cuckoo (Clamator glandarius). Theory predicts that cuckoos should select host nests at the laying stage. Accordingly, we detected that cuckoos preferred to parasitize magpie nests at the laying stage but, mainly, those that already harbored one or two cuckoo eggs, which may seem counterintuitive. We also showed that patterns of host selection by cuckoos varied during the breeding season, which implies that brood parasite–host interaction is dynamic depending on phenology. These patterns are hidden when not considering the temporally dynamic nature of the availability of host nests of characteristics of interest. We discuss the importance of such patterns and considering diary hosts nests availability for detecting them.

scholarly journals Evolution of tolerance by magpies to brood parasitism by great spotted cuckoos

2010 ◽  
Vol 278 (1714) ◽  
pp. 2047-2052 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. J. Soler ◽  
D. Martín-Gálvez ◽  
J. G. Martínez ◽  
M. Soler ◽  
D. Canestrari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Parasite Burden ◽  
Pica Pica ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Sympatric Populations ◽  
Evolutionary Patterns ◽  
Clamator Glandarius ◽  
Evolution Of Tolerance ◽  
Rejection Rates

Hosts may use two different strategies to ameliorate negative effects of a given parasite burden: resistance or tolerance. Although both resistance and tolerance of parasitism should evolve as a consequence of selection pressures owing to parasitism, the study of evolutionary patterns of tolerance has traditionally been neglected by animal biologists. Here, we explore geographical covariation between tolerance of magpies ( Pica pica ) and brood parasitism by the great spotted cuckoo ( Clamator glandarius ) in nine different sympatric populations. We estimated tolerance as the slope of the regression of number of magpie fledglings (i.e. host fitness) on number of cuckoo eggs laid in non-depredated nests (which broadly equals parasite burden). We also estimated prevalence of parasitism and level of host resistance (i.e. rejection rates of mimetic model eggs) in these nine populations. In accordance with the hypothetical role of tolerance in the coevolutionary process between magpies and cuckoos we found geographical variation in tolerance estimates that positively covaried with prevalence of parasitism. Levels of resistance and tolerance were not associated, possibly suggesting the lack of a trade-off between the two kinds of defences against great spotted cuckoo parasitism for magpies. We discuss the results in the framework of a mosaic of coevolutionary interactions along the geographical distribution of magpies and great spotted cuckoos for which we found evidence that tolerance plays a major role.

EFFECT OF GREAT SPOTTED CUCKOO PRESENCE ON MAGPIE REJECTION BEHAVIOUR

Behaviour ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 137 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Soler ◽  
Anders Pape Moller ◽  
Juan Jose Soler
Keyword(s):  
Egg Rejection ◽  
Pica Pica ◽  
Conditional Response ◽  
Clamator Glandarius ◽  
Treatment Groups

AbstractSoler & Moller (1990) reported that egg rejection of great spotted cuckoo Clamator glandarius eggs by magpies Pica pica varies between populations depending on the duration of sympatry. Here, we test experimentally the idea that differences in ejection rates between areas of presumably different duration of sympatry could be due to a conditional response by magpies to the presence of adult parasites near the nest. The rate of ejection of mimetic cuckoo egg models was identical in both treatment groups, independently of whether or not the cuckoo was presented at the same time as the model egg. Thus, we conclude that the presence of a great spotted cuckoo near the magpie nest does not increase the probability of egg rejection.

scholarly journals Absence of anti-parasitic defenses in an Asian population of the magpie, a regular host of the great spotted cuckoo in Europe

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Canchao Yang ◽  
Jialiang Huang ◽  
Wei Liang ◽  
Anders P Møller
Keyword(s):  
Asian Population ◽  
Egg Rejection ◽  
Brood Parasite ◽  
Pica Pica ◽  
Host Nest ◽  
Clamator Glandarius ◽  
Brood Parasites ◽  
Antagonistic Coevolution ◽  
The Past ◽  
Different Populations

Abstract Antagonistic coevolution such as that between obligate brood parasites and their hosts promotes the evolution of a variety of trickeries that enhance successful rearing of their offspring. They do that by using host parental care to enhance their reproductive success, which in turn selects for host nest defenses or egg rejection. Studying these adaptations and counter-adaptations in different populations helps us to understand the complexity of coevolution between hosts and parasites. Here, we tested for anti-parasite defenses in an Asian population of magpies Pica pica, which is used as a regular host by the great spotted cuckoo Clamator glandarius in Europe. Unlike most magpie populations in Europe, cuckoo parasitism and specific anti-parasite defenses are absent from this Asian population. None of the cuckoos in the Asian population of magpies were capable of exploiting the magpies. That was due to magpies being evictors smaller than cuckoos that could not successfully utilize brood reducing hosts. Thus, the absence of cuckoo parasitism may be due to the absence of non-evictor brood parasites, while the absence of defenses is likely to be explained by the absence of coevolutionary interaction with any brood parasite in both the present and the past.

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