Acceptance by the splendid fairy-wren of parasitism by Horsfield's bronze-cuckoo: further evidence for evolutionary equilibrium in brood parasitism

Brooker, Michael; Brooker, Lesley

doi:10.1093/beheco/7.4.395

Cited by 61 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…It has been suggested for hosts of avian brood parasites that the prolonged evolutionary association between a social parasite and its host may result in adjustments of the host's life history such that costs are minimized (33). Although such modifications cannot be addressed by the present data, evolutionary responses to selection pressures imposed by slave-making ants may be constrained in Leptothorax by benefits associated with polydomy and polygyny.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Prudent Protomognathus and despotic Leptothorax duloticus : Differential costs of ant slavery

Hare

Alloway

2001

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The concept of ant slavery rests on the untested assumption that slave-making ants impose fitness costs on colonies of the species they raid. We tested that assumption by comparing the summertime seasonal productivity of Leptothorax spp. colonies in field exclosures without slavemakers, with a colony of the obligatory slave-making ant Protomognathus americanus, or with a colony of the obligatory slavemaker Leptothorax duloticus. Leptothorax longispinosus colonies placed in exclosures with P. americanus colonies did not differ significantly in any demographic attribute from colonies in exclosures without slavemakers. By contrast, Leptothorax curvispinosus colonies exposed to L. duloticus experienced significant reductions in dealate queens, workers, and larvae relative to control colonies exclosed without slavemakers. The pronounced difference in the impact of these slavemakers on their host-species populations correlates with differences in the behavior of the slavemakers observed in the laboratory and likely explains why P. americanus is more abundant than L. duloticus in nature. It seems that more advanced social parasites, like anatomical parasites, evolve to minimize their impact on their hosts, and thus can be regarded as ''prudent social parasites.'' social parasitism ͉ life-history costs ͉ prudent parasite

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Prudent Protomognathus and despotic Leptothorax duloticus : Differential costs of ant slavery

Hare

Alloway

2001

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Previous studies have explained the enigma of why hosts often accept apparently non-mimetic eggs, either in terms of the evolutionary lag or equilibrium hypotheses. Davies et al (1996) argued convincingly that below certain threshold levels of parasitism, acceptance of even apparently mimetic eggs by reed warblers can be optimal provided that rejection costs are high enough, and Brooker & Brooker (1996) have similarly argued that the cost of acceptance of cuckoo eggs by splendid fairy-wrens can be low enough in terms of lifetime reproductive success to be an evolutionarily stable strategy. Both of these arguments may apply to the red-chested cuckoo system as well because all of the ten host species measured in this study (six of which are`non-mimetic') have been recorded in the literature as feeding nestling or £edgling red-chested cuckoos (Rowan 1983), indicating that these host species must accept cuckoo eggs to some extent at least.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Egg colour matching in an African cuckoo, as revealed by ultraviolet-visible reflectance spectrophotometry

Cherry

Bennett

2001

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

146

140

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Despite major di¡erences between human and avian colour vision, previous studies of cuckoo egg mimicry have used human colour vision (or standards based thereon) to assess colour matching. Using ultraviolet-visible re£ectance spectrophotometry (300^700 nm), we measured museum collections of eggs of the red-chested cuckoo and its hosts. The ¢rst three principal components explained more than 99% of the variance in spectra, and measures of cuckoo^host egg similarity derived from these transformations were compared with measures of cuckoo^host egg similarity estimated by human observers unaware of the hypotheses we were testing. Monte Carlo methods were used to simulate laying of cuckoo eggs at random in nests. Results showed that host and cuckoo eggs were very highly matched for an ultraviolet versus greenness component, which was not detected by humans. Furthermore, whereas cuckoo and host were dissimilar in achromatic brightness, humans did not detect this di¡erence. Our study thus reveals aspects of cuckoo^host egg colour matching which have hitherto not been described. These results suggest subtleties and complexities in the evolution of host^cuckoo egg mimicry that were not previously suspected. Our results also have the potential to explain the longstanding paradox that some host species accept cuckoo eggs that are non-mimetic to the human eye.

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“…These approaches could be complemented by long-term individual-based studies to look at real fitness effects of brood parasitism by measuring LRS for host individuals. Brooker & Brooker (1996) achieved this for the Splendid Fairy-wren, host of Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo. They reported that, despite obvious costs in any one breeding attempt, the LRS of those individuals that were never parasitized was not higher than the LRS of individuals that were parasitized once or more than once.…”

Section: Where To Go From Here?mentioning

confidence: 96%

Cuckoos, cowbirds and hosts: adaptations, trade-offs and constraints

Krüger

2006

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

126

119

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The interactions between brood parasitic birds and their host species provide one of the best model systems for coevolution. Despite being intensively studied, the parasite-host system provides ample opportunities to test new predictions from both coevolutionary theory as well as life-history theory in general. I identify four main areas that might be especially fruitful: cuckoo female gentes as alternative reproductive strategies, non-random and nonlinear risks of brood parasitism for host individuals, host parental quality and targeted brood parasitism, and differences and similarities between predation risk and parasitism risk. Rather than being a rare and intriguing system to study coevolutionary processes, I believe that avian brood parasites and their hosts are much more important as extreme cases in the evolution of life-history strategies. They provide unique examples of trade-offs and situations where constraints are either completely removed or particularly severe.

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Acceptance by the splendid fairy-wren of parasitism by Horsfield's bronze-cuckoo: further evidence for evolutionary equilibrium in brood parasitism

Cited by 61 publications

References 28 publications

Prudent Protomognathus and despotic Leptothorax duloticus : Differential costs of ant slavery

Prudent Protomognathus and despotic Leptothorax duloticus : Differential costs of ant slavery

Egg colour matching in an African cuckoo, as revealed by ultraviolet-visible reflectance spectrophotometry

Cuckoos, cowbirds and hosts: adaptations, trade-offs and constraints

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