The cost of host egg damage caused by a brood parasite: experiments on great spotted cuckoos ( Clamator glandarius ) and magpies ( Pica pica )

1999 ◽  
Vol 46 (6) ◽  
pp. 381-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Soler ◽  
Juan José Soler ◽  
Tomás Pérez-Contreras
Keyword(s):  
Brood Parasite ◽  
Pica Pica ◽  
Clamator Glandarius ◽  
The Cost

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 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.

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

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

scholarly journals How to learn to recognize conspecific brood parasitic offspring

2020 ◽  
Vol 375 (1802) ◽  
pp. 20190472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daizaburo Shizuka ◽  
Bruce E. Lyon
Keyword(s):  
Signal Detection Theory ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
Brood Parasite ◽  
Learning Mechanism ◽  
Brood Parasites ◽  
Genetic Mechanisms ◽  
Recognition Systems ◽  
Recognition Errors ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Evolving Models

Recognition systems evolve to reduce the risk and costs of making recognition errors. Two main sources of recognition error include perceptual error (error arising from inability to discriminate between objects) and template error (error arising from using the wrong recognition template). We focus on how template error shapes host defence against avian brood parasites. Prior experiments in American coots ( Fulica americana ), a conspecific brood parasite, demonstrated how hosts learn to recognize brood parasitic chicks using predictable patterns of hatching order of host and parasite eggs. Here, we use these results to quantify the benefit of chick rejection as well as the cost of template error, and we then use mathematical models to explore fitness payoffs of chick recognition from different template acquisition mechanisms. We find that fitness differences between mechanisms do not fully explain aspects of the learning mechanism, such as why coots reacquire their recognition template each year. Other constraints arising from mating systems and genetic mechanisms likely influence which learning mechanism for parasitic chick recognition is optimal. Our approach highlights how mechanisms of template acquisition influence other recognition systems, including parasitic chick recognition in other brood parasite hosts. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Signal detection theory in recognition systems: from evolving models to experimental tests’.

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.

Spatial patterns of egg laying and multiple parasitism in a brood parasite: a non-territorial system in the great spotted cuckoo ( Clamator glandarius )

Oecologia ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 117 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 286-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Gabriel Martínez ◽  
Juan Jose Soler ◽  
Manuel Soler ◽  
Terry Burke
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Brood Parasite ◽  
Clamator Glandarius
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