scholarly journals Avian diet and foraging ecology constrain foreign egg recognition and rejection

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 24-31
Author(s):  
Alec B Luro ◽  
Mark E Hauber
Keyword(s):  
Host Species ◽  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Foraging Ecology ◽  
Foraging Strategies ◽  
Egg Rejection ◽  
Egg Recognition ◽  
Body Sizes ◽  
Bill Morphology ◽  
Avian Brood Parasitism ◽  
Rejection Rates

Egg rejection is a common and effective defense against avian brood parasitism in which the host either marginalizes or removes the parasitic egg or deserts the parasitized clutch. The ability to recognize and reject a parasitic egg depends on bill morphology, sensory systems, and cognition, all of which are also shaped by other selective processes such as foraging. This begs the question whether specific phenotypes associated with different foraging strategies and diets may constrain or facilitate egg recognition and rejection. Here, we propose a novel hypothesis that host species phenotypes related to foraging ecology and diet may impose morphological and visual sensory constraints on the evolution of egg recognition and rejection. We conducted a comparative analysis of the adult diets and egg rejection rates of 165 current host and non-host species. We found that species have significantly higher egg rejection rates when they (1) consume an omnivorous or animal and fruit dominated diet rather than seeds and grains, (2) forage arboreally rather than aerially or on the ground, or (3) possess relatively larger body sizes. Although correlational in nature, as predicted, these results suggest phenotypes related to specific diets and foraging ecologies may differentially constrain or facilitate evolution of host egg rejection defenses against avian brood parasitism.

scholarly journals Avian diet and foraging ecology constrain foreign egg recognition and rejection

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alec B. Luro ◽  
Mark E. Hauber
Keyword(s):  
Host Species ◽  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Foraging Ecology ◽  
Foraging Strategies ◽  
Egg Rejection ◽  
Egg Recognition ◽  
Body Sizes ◽  
Bill Morphology ◽  
Avian Brood Parasitism ◽  
Rejection Rates

AbstractEgg rejection is the most common defense against avian brood parasitism in which the host either removes the parasitic egg or deserts the parasitized clutch. The ability to recognize and reject a parasitic egg depends on bill morphology, sensory systems, and cognition, all of which are also shaped by other selective processes, such as foraging. This begs the question whether specific phenotypes associated with different foraging strategies and diets may constrain or facilitate egg recognition and rejection. Here, we propose a novel hypothesis that host species phenotypes related to foraging ecology and diet impose morphological and sensory constraints on the evolution of egg rejection. We conducted a comparative analysis of the adult diets and egg rejection rates of 165 current host and non-host species and found species that consume an animal and fruit dominated diet rather than seeds and grains, forage arboreally rather than aerially, and possess relatively larger body sizes have significantly higher egg rejection rates. As predicted, these results suggest that phenotypes related to specific diets and foraging strategies may differentially constrain or facilitate evolution of host egg rejection defenses against avian brood parasitism.

scholarly journals The costs of avian brood parasitism explain variation in egg rejection behaviour in hosts

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 20150296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iliana Medina ◽  
Naomi E. Langmore
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Host Species ◽  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Egg Rejection ◽  
Brood Parasites ◽  
Avian Brood Parasitism ◽  
First Time ◽  
Rejection Rates

Many bird species can reject foreign eggs from their nests. This behaviour is thought to have evolved in response to brood parasites, birds that lay their eggs in the nest of other species. However, not all hosts of brood parasites evict parasitic eggs. In this study, we collate data from egg rejection experiments on 198 species, and perform comparative analyses to understand the conditions under which egg rejection evolves. We found evidence, we believe for the first time in a large-scale comparative analysis, that (i) non-current host species have rejection rates as high as current hosts, (ii) egg rejection is more likely to evolve when the parasite is relatively large compared with its host and (iii) egg rejection is more likely to evolve when the parasite chick evicts all the host eggs from the nest, such as in cuckoos. Our results suggest that the interactions between brood parasites and their hosts have driven the evolution of egg rejection and that variation in the costs inflicted by parasites is fundamental to explaining why only some host species evolve egg rejection.

scholarly journals Impact of nest sanitation behavior on hosts’ egg rejection: An empirical study and meta-analyses

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qihong Li ◽  
Jianli Bi ◽  
Jiangwen Wu ◽  
Canchao Yang
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Host Species ◽  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Egg Rejection ◽  
Specific Adaptation ◽  
Potential Host ◽  
Nest Sanitation ◽  
Avian Brood Parasitism ◽  
Meta Analyses ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Egg rejection in birds is a specific adaptation toward avian brood parasitism, while nest sanitation is a general behavior for cleaning the nest and avoiding predation. However, both behaviors refer to the action of ejecting objects out of the nest, and nest sanitation has been proposed as a pre-adaptation for egg rejection. Here we tested the eliciting effect of nest sanitation on egg rejection in the red-whiskered bulbul Pycnonotus jocosus, a potential host species that is sympatric with parasitic cuckoos. We conducted meta-analyses of previous studies on both nest sanitation and egg rejection, in order to evaluate the consistency of our conclusions. Our results showed that nest sanitation did not elicit egg rejection in P. jocosus. The conclusions concerning such an eliciting effect from previous studies were mixed, while the methodologies were inconsistent, making the studies unsuitable for comparisons. However, the ejection frequency of nest sanitation was consistently higher than the frequency of egg rejection across different host species or populations. These results suggest that nest sanitation, which is an ancient behavior, is more fundamental than egg rejection, but the effect of the former on the latter is complex and needs further study. Standardized methodologies and the integration of behavior, physiology, and modeling may provide better opportunities to explore the relationship between nest sanitation and egg rejection.

scholarly journals A Meta-Analysis of Avian Egg Traits Cueing Egg-Rejection Defenses Against Brood Parasitism

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Samaš ◽  
Mark E. Hauber ◽  
Marcel Honza
Keyword(s):  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Phenotypic Traits ◽  
Egg Rejection ◽  
Egg Recognition ◽  
Avian Brood Parasitism ◽  
Egg Traits ◽  
New Research

The capability of hosts to reject the odd egg from their nest is one of the key defenses against avian brood parasitism. Considerable research effort has been devoted to exploring which phenotypic traits of eggshells facilitate to cue the recognition of the parasitic egg. Here we have reviewed studies addressing salient egg traits involved in the rejection of foreign eggs and used a formal meta-analysis to quantify their relative importance. Hosts appear to rely to a large extent on eggshell color traits, followed by maculation patterns. Hosts respond with similar rates of egg rejection to natural vs. model eggs and when breeding in both closed and open nests. Analyses of experiments on hosts of Cuculus and Molothrus parasites, the two best studied brood parasitic lineages with different co-evolutionary histories, yield similar conclusions. We also identify several poorly studied potential egg recognition cues, such as odor or weight, and recommend exploring even the visual traits in more detail, including chromatic and achromatic contrasts or experimentally manipulated egg maculation characteristics. Recent technological and sensory ecological advances open many new research avenues to experimentally examine the role of diverse egg characteristics in antiparasite defenses.

scholarly journals Evicting cuckoo nestlings from the nest: a new anti-parasitism behaviour

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nozomu J. Sato ◽  
Kihoko Tokue ◽  
Richard A. Noske ◽  
Osamu K. Mikami ◽  
Keisuke Ueda
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Host Species ◽  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Egg Rejection ◽  
Brood Parasite ◽  
Defence Mechanisms ◽  
Evolutionary Pathway ◽  
Unique System ◽  
Avian Brood Parasitism

As avian brood parasitism usually reduces hosts' reproductive success, hosts often exhibit strong defence mechanisms. While such host defences at the egg stage (especially egg rejection) have been extensively studied, defence mechanisms at the nestling stage have been reported only recently. We found a previously unknown anti-parasitism behaviour in the large-billed Gerygone, which is a host species of the little bronze-cuckoo, a host-evicting brood parasite. The hosts forcibly pulled resisting nestlings out of their nests and dumped them. Although it has been suggested that defence mechanisms at the nestling stage may evolve when host defence at the egg stage is evaded by the parasite, the studied host seems to lack an anti-parasitism strategy at the egg stage. This suggests that the evolutionary pathway may be quite different from those of previously studied cuckoo–host systems. Future research on this unique system may give us new insights into the evolution of avian brood parasitism.

scholarly journals Egg retrieval versus egg rejection in cuckoo hosts

2019 ◽  
Vol 374 (1769) ◽  
pp. 20180200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Canchao Yang ◽  
Wei Liang ◽  
Anders P. Møller
Keyword(s):  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Egg Rejection ◽  
Egg Recognition ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Brood Parasites ◽  
Cavity Nesting ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
Avian Brood Parasitism ◽  
Different Levels

Before complex nests evolved, birds laid eggs on the ground, and egg retrieval evolved as an adaptation against accidental displacement of eggs outside the nest. Therefore, egg retrieval is an ancient, and likely ancestral, widespread behaviour in birds. However, it has received little attention in studies of avian brood parasitism, perhaps because most parasitism occurs in species with complex nests, a context in which egg retrieval seems irrelevant. However, for cavity-nesting hosts of avian brood parasites, egg retrieval may still play an important role in the coevolutionary interactions between obligate brood parasites and hosts, because egg retrieval can be considered to be antagonistic to egg rejection behaviour in hosts, yet both may involve cognition to recognize eggs. We hypothesized that (1) cavity-nesting hosts should retrieve misplaced eggs from outside the nest cup, (2) brood parasitism has modulated egg retrieval behaviour in cavity-nesting hosts and (3) hosts use the same visual cues for decision-making during egg recognition in both egg retrieval and egg rejection actions. To test these hypotheses, we performed a series of experiments in a cavity-nesting host, the green-backed tit (Parus monticolus). Foreign eggs with different levels of mimicry were placed within or outside nest cups of hosts to test their responses. We found that host decisions about whether to retrieve or reject an egg both depended on the degree of mimicry. However, hosts sometimes first retrieved poorly mimetic foreign eggs and then rejected them. Alternatively, hosts sometimes failed to retrieve highly mimetic conspecific eggs. We suggest that egg retrieval in hosts is likely to be a result of the interaction between ancient retrieval behaviour and subsequent adaptation against brood parasitism.This article is part of the theme issue ‘The coevolutionary biology of brood parasitism: from mechanism to pattern’.

scholarly journals Deficiency in egg rejection in a host species as a response to the absence of brood parasitism

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 406-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Yang ◽  
L. Wang ◽  
S.-J. Cheng ◽  
Y.-C. Hsu ◽  
B. G. Stokke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Host Species ◽  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Egg Rejection

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 Fate of Grackle (Quiscalus SPP.) Defenses in the Absence of Brood Parasitism: Implications for Long-Term Parasite-Host Coevolution

The Auk ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 121 (4) ◽  
pp. 1172-1186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian D. Peer ◽  
Spencer G. Sealy
Keyword(s):  
Host Species ◽  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Selection Pressure ◽  
Egg Rejection ◽  
Allopatric Population ◽  
Brood Parasites ◽  
Cowbird Parasitism ◽  
The Common ◽  
Molothrus Aeneus

Abstract We tested grackles (Quiscalus spp.) to determine whether they retain egg rejection behavior in the absence of the selection pressure of brood parasitism. Neither Bronzed Cowbird (Molothrus aeneus) nor Brown-headed Cowbird (M. ater) parasitism was recorded in 797 Great-tailed Grackle (Q. mexicanus) nests. Cross-fostered Bronzed Cowbird nestlings, but not Brown-headed Cowbird nestlings, fledged from Great-tailed Grackle nests, indicating that Brown-headed Cowbird parasitism does not select for rejection in these grackles. Great-tailed Grackle populations sympatric and allopatric with Bronzed Cowbirds rejected 100% of model cowbird eggs. An allopatric population of Boat-tailed Grackle (Q. major), a sister species of the Great-tailed Grackle, also rejected 100% of model eggs. Egg rejection in the Boat-tailed Grackle has apparently been retained in the absence of parasitism for as long as 800,000 years since it split from the Great-tailed Grackle. The Common Grackle (Q. quiscula), which lays the most variable eggs among the grackles, also has the lowest level of egg rejection—which is consistent with the argument that it may have lost most of its rejection behavior in the absence of parasitism. With extreme intraclutch egg-variation, Common Grackles may be more likely to reject their own oddly colored eggs, which would select against rejection behavior in the absence of parasitism. Those results have significant implications for long-term parasite-host coevolution, because they suggest that egg rejection has been retained in most species of Quiscalus in the absence of parasitism. If typical of the world's avifauna, such retention may force brood parasites to specialize on a few host species and to rarely return to using old hosts, which would readily reject their eggs.

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