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In response to brood parasitism, which significantly reduces the reproductive success of avian hosts, hosts have evolved the ability to recognize and reject parasitic eggs. Many studies have revealed the factors influencing egg recognition and egg rejection. Recent work has demonstrated that host personality along the bold–shy continuum can influence egg rejection behaviour. In addition, the egg rejection behaviour of hosts differs among populations, suggesting that individuals with different personalities might evolve various adaptive behaviours under different parasitic pressures, but there have been few relevant experiments to test this. In the present study, two populations of the Japanese tit, Parus minor, distributed in China were used to examine whether there were differences in egg rejection behaviour of individuals with different personalities. The results showed that egg rejection rates of bold individuals (which remained in the nest box when encountering human invaders) and shy individuals (which immediately flew away from the nest box when encountering human invaders) were similar in both populations of the Japanese tit, and there were also no significant differences in egg rejection rates between individuals of the same personality in the two populations. This study suggests that host personality along the bold–shy continuum does not account for egg rejection behaviour in Japanese tits. This might be attributable either to other factors that affect egg rejection behaviour counteracting the effect of personality or to the presence of multiple personality traits that act together in the Japanese tits, counteracting the effect of a single personality trait.
In response to brood parasitism, which significantly reduces the reproductive success of avian hosts, hosts have evolved the ability to recognize and reject parasitic eggs. Many studies have revealed the factors influencing egg recognition and egg rejection. Recent work has demonstrated that host personality along the bold–shy continuum can influence egg rejection behaviour. In addition, the egg rejection behaviour of hosts differs among populations, suggesting that individuals with different personalities might evolve various adaptive behaviours under different parasitic pressures, but there have been few relevant experiments to test this. In the present study, two populations of the Japanese tit, Parus minor, distributed in China were used to examine whether there were differences in egg rejection behaviour of individuals with different personalities. The results showed that egg rejection rates of bold individuals (which remained in the nest box when encountering human invaders) and shy individuals (which immediately flew away from the nest box when encountering human invaders) were similar in both populations of the Japanese tit, and there were also no significant differences in egg rejection rates between individuals of the same personality in the two populations. This study suggests that host personality along the bold–shy continuum does not account for egg rejection behaviour in Japanese tits. This might be attributable either to other factors that affect egg rejection behaviour counteracting the effect of personality or to the presence of multiple personality traits that act together in the Japanese tits, counteracting the effect of a single personality trait.
Amid coevolutionary arms races between brood parasitic birds and their diverse host species, the formation of host‐specific races, or gentes, has drawn significant research focus. Nevertheless, numerous questions about gentes evolutionary patterns persist. Here, we investigated the potential for gentes evolution across multiple common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) populations parasitizing diverse host species in China. Using maternal (mitochondrial and W‐linked DNA) and biparental (autosomal and Z‐linked DNA) markers, we found consistent clustering of cuckoo gentes (rather than geographical populations) into distinct clades in matrilineal gene trees, indicating robust differentiation. In contrast, biparental markers indicated intermixing of all gentes, suggesting asymmetric gene flow regardless of geography. Unlike the mitonuclear discordance commonly resulting from incomplete lineage sorting, adaptive introgression, or demographic disparities, the observed pattern in brood parasitic cuckoos might reflect biased host preferences between sexes. We hereby present the “Isolation by Gentes with Asymmetric Migration” model. According to this model, the maternal line differentiation of the common cuckoo in China is potentially driven by host preferences in females, whereas males maintained the integrity of the cuckoo species through random mating. To achieve this, cuckoo males could perform flexible migration among gentes or engage in early copulation with females before reaching the breeding sites, allowing female cuckoos to store sperm from various gentes. Future studies collecting additional samples from diverse cuckoo gentes with overlapping distribution and investigating the migratory and copulation patterns of each sex would enhance our understanding of sex‐biased differentiation among cuckoo populations in China.
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