Interspecific egg rejection as ecological collateral damage from selection driven by conspecific brood parasitism

Lyon, Bruce E.; Shizuka, Daizaburo; Eadie, John M.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.02.010

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Unlike some host species that have evolved defensive behaviors (e.g., egg rejection) to brood parasitism (Lyon et al. , Medina and Langmore ), the Wood Thrush readily accepts cowbird eggs providing us with the unique ability to evaluate the effects of large‐scale population trends in Wood Thrushes and cowbirds without the potentially confounding factors that arise due to defensive behavioral adaptations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long‐term dynamics in local host–parasite interactions linked to regional population trends

et al. 2016

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Abstract. Temporal changes in the relative abundances of host-parasite populations can influence the magnitude of the effects of corresponding interspecific interactions. When parasite populations are at relatively low abundance, the negative effects on host populations may be insignificant, but when parasite abundance increases beyond critical thresholds, they can have population limiting effects on the host. Here, we used data from a 40-yr demographic study on breeding Wood Thrushes (Hylocichla mustelina) and avian brood parasitic Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater) in the mid-Atlantic United States to disentangle host-parasite interactions. The relative abundance for these two species has changed both locally and regionally over this time period with a reduction in host abundance coincident with an increase in the parasite population. We detected a fivefold increase in Brown-headed Cowbird parasitism rates of Wood Thrushes over the 40-yr time period leading to a reduction in Wood Thrush fitness (i.e., adult survival, fecundity, and recruitment). After accounting for the effects of Wood Thrush age, individual, and annual and within-season variation in reproduction, we found that Wood Thrushes exhibited increased reproductive effort (produced more nests per year) as nest parasitism rates increased. Additionally, we found that as parasitism rates increased, both Wood Thrush clutch size and fecundity declined. In conjunction with widespread habitat loss and land use change on both wintering and breeding ranges, increasing rates of Brown-headed Cowbird parasitism are reducing Wood Thrush fitness, and are likely contributing to observed regional Wood Thrush population declines. Coordinated local and regional efforts to reduce Brown-headed Cowbird populations, particularly in fragmented landscapes, may help reduce the decline for Wood Thrushes, and likely other parasitized Neotropical migratory species.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long‐term dynamics in local host–parasite interactions linked to regional population trends

et al. 2016

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“…Some have proposed the alternative hypothesis, that intraspecific brood parasitism is the reason why the northern masked weaver (Ploceus taeniopterus) rejects eggs (Freeman, 1988;Jackson, 1992b); this hypothesis could apply to the Rüppell's weaver as well, in the absence of evidence. The agent of selection cannot be determined by the mere existence of egg rejection, as selection from intraspecific brood parasitism can lead to rejection of heterospecific eggs (Lyon et al, 2015), and vice versa (Lahti, 2006). The evidence that intraspecific brood parasitism alone can promote the evolution of egg rejection is fairly uncontroversial (Lyon and Eadie, 2004).…”

Section: Egg Rejection and Implications For Brood Parasitismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The refinement of egg appearance traits and egg recognition is especially necessary because the diederik cuckoo has evolved mimicry of weaver eggs (Payne, 1967), and diverged into apparent egg races, or gentes, that are specialized on different host egg morphs (Jensen and Vernon, 1970). In some weavers, individuals parasitize each other (Jackson, 1992a), which is not as detrimental as cuckoo parasitism as it merely adds an individual to the clutch; nevertheless it might still impose selection for egg recognition (Samaš et al, 2014;Lyon et al, 2015). At least in the village weaver, however, defensive traits function especially in response to interspecific (cuckoo) brood parasitism, as demonstrated by their decay in the absence of the cuckoo (Lahti, 2005(Lahti, , 2006, and the subsequent evolution of egg appearance in accordance with other agents of selection in populations freed from cuckoo parasitism (Lahti, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of Egg Variation and Foreign Egg Rejection in Rüppell’s Weaver (Ploceus galbula)

Lahti

2021

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Egg appearance is notable for its variation and as a source of recognition cues in bird species that are subject to egg-mimicking brood parasitism. Here I analyze the egg appearance of an East African weaverbird species that has variable eggs and is a host of brood parasitism by an egg-mimicking cuckoo, in order to (1) compare population variation to variation within a clutch as a measure of the distinctiveness of eggs; (2) assess modularity versus correlation among egg appearance traits as an indication of the complexity of egg signatures; and (3) address whether the eggs are discretely polymorphic or continuously variable in appearance. I also compare three methods of assessing egg coloration: reduction of spectral data to orthogonal components, targeted spectral shape variables, and avian visual modeling. Then I report the results of egg replacement experiments that assess the relationship between egg rejection behavior and the difference in appearance between own and foreign eggs. Rüppell’s weaver (Ploceus galbula) eggs are variable in appearance between individuals and consistent within a clutch, but vary widely in the distinctiveness of particular traits. Most aspects of color and spotting are decoupled from each other, including coloration likely to derive from different pigments. Egg ground color is bimodal, with a broad continuous class of off-white/UV eggs and another broad class of blue-green eggs. Variation in all other traits is unimodal and usually normal in distribution. Females reject foreign eggs on the basis of the difference in brightness of the ground color and spotting of foreign eggs relative to their own, and the difference in degree to which spots are aggregated at the broad end of the egg. This aggregation is among the most distinctive features of their eggs, but the brightness of the ground color and spotting brightness are not; the birds’ use of brightness rather than the more distinctive chromatic variation to recognize eggs might reflect the salience of achromatic contrast in a dim enclosed nest.

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“…Where social parasites do occur, they have usually evolved to evade pre-existing recognition systems (e.g., social parasites in eusocial hymenoptera, and transmissible cancers in vertebrates; table A3). In certain birds, variability of egg shell patterns may have evolved in response to conspecific brood parasitism, and incidentally helped protect against interspe-cific brood parasitism (Samas et al 2014;Lyon et al 2015). In other cases, social parasites evolve in taxa that lack association preference systems (e.g., clams and red algae; table A3).…”

Section: Major Transitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association theory: a new framework for analyzing social evolution

Gilbert

2017

Preprint

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The dominant social-evolutionary paradigm implicitly equates social actions and behaviors causing associations by extrapolating from models of social actions to explain behaviors affecting association. This extrapolation occurs when models of helping behavior are applied to explain aggregation or fusion, and when models of discriminatory helping behavior are applied to explain discriminatory segregation or discriminatory rejection. Here, I outline an alternative theoretical approach that explicitly distinguishes a social action as a helping or harming behavior, and an association as the context for a social action. Based on this distinction, I define a list of terms that allows a classification of association phenomena and the conceptual framework necessary to explain their evolution. I apply the resulting theory, which I call “association theory,” to identify a series of steps common to major and minor transitions in social evolution. These steps include the evolution of association, the evolution of differential treatment, the evolution of association preference, and the evolution of genetic kin recognition. I explain how to measure the parameters of association theory and I apply the theory to test Hamilton’s rule. I evaluate the evidence for association theory, including how it resolves anomalies of a former paradigm. Finally, I discuss association theory’s assumptions, and I explain why it may become the dominant framework for analyzing social evolution.

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Interspecific egg rejection as ecological collateral damage from selection driven by conspecific brood parasitism

Cited by 8 publications

References 53 publications

Long‐term dynamics in local host–parasite interactions linked to regional population trends

Long‐term dynamics in local host–parasite interactions linked to regional population trends

Analysis of Egg Variation and Foreign Egg Rejection in Rüppell’s Weaver (Ploceus galbula)

Association theory: a new framework for analyzing social evolution

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