A recoverable cost of brood parasitism during the nestling stage of the American robin (Turdus migratorius): implications for the evolution of egg rejection behaviors in a host of the brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater)

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Croston ◽  
M.E. Hauber
Keyword(s):  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Molothrus Ater ◽  
Egg Rejection ◽  
Turdus Migratorius ◽  
American Robin

High repeatability of egg rejection in response to experimental brood parasitism in the American robin (Turdus migratorius)

Behaviour ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 151 (6) ◽  
pp. 703-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Croston ◽  
M.E. Hauber
Keyword(s):  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
Linear Mixed Model ◽  
Generalized Linear Mixed Model ◽  
Presentation Order ◽  
Egg Rejection ◽  
Turdus Migratorius ◽  
American Robin ◽  
American Robins ◽  
High Repeatability

Repeatability is a measure of the amount of variation in a phenotype that is attributable to differences between individuals. This concept is important for any study of behaviour, as all traits of evolutionary interest must be repeatable in order to respond to selection. We investigated the repeatability of behavioural responses to experimental brood parasitism in American robins, a robust (100%) rejecter of parasitic brown-headed cowbird eggs. Because tests of repeatability require variation between individuals, we parasitized the same robin nests twice successively with model eggs dyed with colours known to elicit rejection at intermediate rates (58–70%). We calculated the repeatability of responses to parasitism, and used a generalized linear mixed model to also test for potentially confounding effects of ordinal date, presentation order, and clutch size. We found that repeatability in response to brood parasitism in this host species is high, and the best model predicting responses to sequential artificial parasitism includes only nest identity. This result is consistent with a critical assumption about egg rejection in this cowbird host as an evolved adaptation in response to brood parasitism.

scholarly journals Brood Parasitism Defense Behaviors Along an Altitudinal Gradient in the American Robin (Turdus Migratorius)

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa C. Carmody ◽  
Alexander Cruz ◽  
Jameson F. Chace
Keyword(s):  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Nest Defense ◽  
Colorado Front Range ◽  
Egg Rejection ◽  
Front Range ◽  
Turdus Migratorius ◽  
Defense Behavior ◽  
American Robin ◽  
Brood Parasites ◽  
High Elevations

Some host species accept eggs from brood parasites over parts of their range and reject them in other areas representing an “evolutionary lag” in the development of rejection behavior or the loss of an adapative behavior when the selection pressure of brood parasitism is removed. Hosts may deter brood parasitism through egg rejection and aggressive nest defense behavior specifically targetting female brood parasites during the egg incubation period. In areas where parasitism frequencies are spatially and temporally variable, anti-parasite behaviors may decline as costs outweigh the benefits. Along the Colorado Front Range, American robins (Turdus migratorius) breed from low elevations where the brood parasitic Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) is abundant to near timberline (3700 m) where cowbirds are uncommon. We tested the hypothesis that egg rejection and nest defense behaviors decline with reduced probability of parasitism. We found that robins accepted 100% of immaculate (robin-like) experimental eggs at both low and high elevations, but were more likely to reject spotted (cowbird-like) experimental eggs at low elevations than high elevations. Response to egg size was more variable than to egg color. When presented with a mount of a cowbird and Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) near the nest, robins responded more aggressively to cowbird models than to sparrows (control), and nest defense behavior towards cowbirds was longer and more aggressive at the lower elevation sites where cowbirds are common. These results suggest that egg rejection and nest-site aggression are costly adaptations to cowbird parasitism, and these behaviors decline when the threat of parasitism is reduced.

New data on systematics of the quill mites of the genus Syringophiloidus Kethley, 1970 (Acari, Syringophilidae) from North American birds

2009 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maciej Skoracki ◽  
Maureen Flannery ◽  
Greg Spicer
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Molothrus Ater ◽  
Turdus Migratorius ◽  
American Robin ◽  
Cardinalis Cardinalis ◽  
Northern Cardinal ◽  
Sialia Mexicana ◽  
Thryothorus Ludovicianus ◽  
Carolina Wren ◽  
Melanerpes Formicivorus

AbstractSix species of the syringophilid mites belonging to the genus Syringophiloidus Kethley, 1970 (Acari, Prostigmata) are recorded from eight avian hosts from USA. Four new species are described and illustrated: S. molothrus sp. nov. from the Brown-headed Cowbird Molothrus ater (Boddaert) (Passeriformes, Icteridae), S. carolae sp. nov. from the Acorn Woodpecker Melanerpes formicivorus (Swainson) (Piciformes, Picidae) and from the Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus) (Passeriformes, Cardinalidae), S. sialius sp. nov. from the Western Bluebird Sialia mexicana Swainson (Passeriformes, Turdidae), and S. thryothorus sp. nov. from the Carolina Wren Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham) (Passeriformes, Troglodytidae). The previously described species S. motacillae Bochkov et Mironov, 1998 is new for USA. Two host species, the American Robin Turdus migratorius Linnaeus (Turdidae) and the Steller’s Jay Cyanocitta stelleri (Gmelin) (Passeriformes, Corvidae), are new for S. presentalis Chirov et Kravtsova, 1995.

scholarly journals Natural and artificial scents do not increase egg rejection rates of model brood parasitic eggs by American robins (Turdus migratorius)

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Erno Hauber
Keyword(s):  
Host Species ◽  
Molothrus Ater ◽  
Egg Rejection ◽  
Turdus Migratorius ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Brood Parasites ◽  
American Robins ◽  
Tactile Cues ◽  
Do So ◽  
Rejection Rates

Hosts of obligate avian brood parasites can diminish or eliminate the costs of parasitism by rejecting foreign eggs from the nests. A vast literature demonstrates that visual and/or tactile cues can be used to recognize and reject natural or model eggs from the nests of diverse host species. However, data on olfaction-based potential egg recognition cues are both sparse and equivocal: experimentally-applied, naturally-relevant (heterospecific, including parasitic) scents do not appear to increase egg rejection rates in two host species, whereas unnatural scents (human and tobacco scents) do so in one host species. Here I assessed the predictions that (i) human handling of mimetically-painted model eggs would increase rejection rates, and (ii) applying unnatural or natural scents to mimetically or non-mimetically painted model eggs alters these eggs’ respective rejection rates relative to controls. I studied wild American Robins (Turdus migratorius), a robust rejecter species of the eggs of obligate brood parasitic Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater). There was no statistical evidence to support either prediction, whereas poorer color-mimicry was still a predicted cause of greater egg rejection in this data set. Nonetheless, future studies could focus on this and other host species and using these and different methods to apply and maintain the scenting of model eggs to more directly test hosts’ use of potential olfactory cues in the foreign-egg rejection process.

scholarly journals Persistence of host defence behaviour in the absence of avian brood parasitism

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 670-673 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian D. Peer ◽  
Michael J. Kuehn ◽  
Stephen I. Rothstein ◽  
Robert C. Fleischer
Keyword(s):  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
New World ◽  
Molothrus Ater ◽  
Egg Rejection ◽  
Brood Parasite ◽  
Bombycilla Cedrorum ◽  
Defence Behaviour ◽  
Cedar Waxwing ◽  
Host Parasite

The fate of host defensive behaviour in the absence of selection from brood parasitism is critical to long-term host–parasite coevolution. We investigated whether New World Bohemian waxwings Bombycilla garrulus that are allopatric from brown-headed cowbird Molothrus ater and common cuckoo Cuculus canorus parasitism have retained egg rejection behaviour. We found that egg rejection was expressed by 100 per cent of Bohemian waxwings. Our phylogeny revealed that Bohemian and Japanese waxwings Bombycilla japonica were sister taxa, and this clade was sister to the cedar waxwing Bombycilla cedrorum . In addition, there was support for a split between Old and New World Bohemian waxwings. Our molecular clock estimates suggest that egg rejection may have been retained for 2.8–3.0 Myr since New World Bohemian waxwings inherited it from their common ancestor with the rejecter cedar waxwings. These results support the ‘single trajectory’ model of host–brood parasite coevolution that once hosts evolve defences, they are retained, forcing parasites to become more specialized over time.

scholarly journals Proximate Predictors of Variation in Egg Rejection Behavior by Hosts of Avian Brood Parasites

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikus Abolins-Abols ◽  
Mark E. Hauber
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Individual Variation ◽  
Physiological State ◽  
Adaptive Significance ◽  
Egg Rejection ◽  
Turdus Migratorius ◽  
American Robin ◽  
Brood Parasites ◽  
Rejection Probability ◽  
Explained Variation

AbstractThe rejection of parasitic eggs by hosts of avian brood parasites is one of the most common and effective defenses against parasitism. Despite its adaptive significance, egg rejection often shows substantial intraspecific variation: some individuals are more likely to remove or abandon parasitic eggs than others. Understanding variation in egg rejection requires that we study factors linked to both the ability to perceive parasitic eggs, as well as factors that may influence the rejection of a foreign egg once it has been recognized. Here we asked what cognitive, physiological, and life-history factors explained variation in the rejection of model eggs by American Robin Turdus migratorius females. We found that the probability of egg rejection was related to the clutch size at the time of parasitism: in support of Weber’s law, females with fewer eggs were more likely to reject the model eggs. In turn, females with greater mass and higher corticosterone levels were less likely to reject eggs, and egg rejection probability was negatively related to incubation progress. Our data thus suggest that proximate predictors of an individual’s egg rejection behavior include components of the nest’s perceptual environment, life-history factors, as well as the physiological state of the animal. However, much of the variation in the responses of robins to the model eggs remained unexplained. Future experiments should aim to understand the causal roles of these and other factors in generating within- and among-individual variation in the rejection of parasitic eggs.

Functional morphology as a barrier to the evolution of grasp-ejection in hosts of the Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater)

2010 ◽  
Vol 88 (12) ◽  
pp. 1210-1217 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Rasmussen ◽  
T. J. Underwood ◽  
S. G. Sealy
Keyword(s):  
Functional Morphology ◽  
Direct Observation ◽  
Molothrus Ater ◽  
Minimum Length ◽  
Turdus Migratorius ◽  
American Robin ◽  
Dumetella Carolinensis ◽  
Bill Length ◽  
Gray Catbird

Acceptance of eggs of the Brown-headed Cowbird ( Molothrus ater (Boddaert, 1783)) by hosts is enigmatic because hosts usually raise fewer of their own young when parasitized. Ejection may not be adaptive for small hosts because they cannot eject cowbird eggs efficiently. Grasp-ejection apparently has a negligible cost but requires a bill of a minimum length that is not known. In this study, we examined the limits of grasp-ejection of the American Robin ( Turdus migratorius L., 1766) and the Gray Catbird ( Dumetella carolinensis (L., 1766)). We determined the largest object width that each species is capable of grasping (limit width) by observing individuals grasping models larger than cowbird eggs in 104 video-recorded ejections and one direct observation. We standardized the limit width to the tomial length of each species (limit ratio) and extrapolated to the width of a cowbird egg to predict the minimum tomial length required for grasp-ejection. Our results suggest that the minimum tomial length required to grasp-eject a cowbird egg is 15.9–16.1 mm and the probability of host-egg damage during grasp-ejection does not increase as the limit ratio increases. Bill length may prevent the evolution of grasp-ejection in cowbird hosts with bills shorter than 16 mm.

scholarly journals Host personality predicts cuckoo egg rejection in Daurian redstarts Phoenicurus auroreus

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1953) ◽  
pp. 20210228
Author(s):  
Jinggang Zhang ◽  
Peter Santema ◽  
Jianqiang Li ◽  
Lixing Yang ◽  
Wenhong Deng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Personality Types ◽  
Breathing Rate ◽  
Egg Rejection ◽  
Physiological Trait ◽  
Host Personality ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Host Influence

In species that are subject to brood parasitism, individuals often vary in their responses to parasitic eggs, with some rejecting the eggs while others do not. While some factors, such as host age (breeding experience), the degree of egg matching and the level of perceived risk of brood parasitism have been shown to influence host decisions, much of the variation remains unexplained. The host personality hypothesis suggests that personality traits of the host influence its response to parasitic eggs, but few studies have tested this. We investigated the relationship between two personality traits (exploration and neophobia) and a physiological trait (breathing rate) of the host, and egg-rejection behaviour in a population of Daurian redstarts Phoenicurus auroreus in northeast China. We first show that exploratory behaviour and the response to a novel object are repeatable for individual females and strongly covary, indicating distinct personality types. We then show that fast-exploring and less neophobic hosts were more likely to reject parasitic eggs than slow-exploring and more neophobic hosts. Variation in breathing rate—a measure of the stress-response—did not affect rejection behaviour. Our results demonstrate that host personality, along the bold-shy continuum, predicts the responses to parasitic eggs in Daurian redstarts, with bold hosts being more likely to reject parasitic eggs.

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