Local Distribution, Abundance and Conservation of Black-Headed Duck in the Mediterranean Wetlands of Chile

Cofré, Hernán; Vilina, Yerko A.; Aguirre, Juan; Egli, Wilhelm; García, María de las Nieves González; Kocksch, Harald; Rottmann, Jürgen; Seeger, H.; Tala, Charif

doi:10.1675/1524-4695(2007)030[0412:ldaaco]2.0.co;2

Cited by 5 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…Three different studies all point to the importance of coots as the most important hosts of Heteronetta, but there are also differences in conclusions about which species of coot is most important (Weller, 1968;Cofré et al, 2007;Lyon and Eadie, 2004 and this study). Weller concluded that Red-fronted Coots were the main species used by Heteronetta at the two wetlands he studied near General Lavalle, Argentina.…”

Section: Ecological and Evolutionary Implications Of Patterns Of Hostmentioning

confidence: 72%

“…In a broad geographic survey of wetlands in Chile, Cofré et al (2007) used a correlational approach to infer the importance of different potential host species to Heteronetta. They surveyed the densities of Heteronetta and several potential host species on 19 wetlands and then used the strength of correlations between population densities of Heteronetta and different potential host species to identify potentially important host species.…”

Section: Ecological and Evolutionary Implications Of Patterns Of Hostmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Black-headed Duck (Heteronetta atricapilla; Fig. 1) is an obligate brood parasite found in southern South America, primarily Argentina and Chile (Weller, 1968;Lyon and Eadie, 2004;Cofré et al, 2007). This species is unique among the avian obligate brood parasites in that its completely precocial offspring leave the host nest within a day of hatching and then raise themselves without any assistance from the hosts (Weller, 1968;Lyon and Eadie, 2004;Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Patterns of host use, total individual fecundity by individual females, and the hatching success rates of the eggs are central to understanding why this species has completely forsaken parental care to become a complete brood parasite. Only three detailed studies have been conducted on the breeding biology and natural history of the Black-headed Duck (Weller, 1968;Lyon and Eadie, 2004;Cofré et al, 2007), and so we lack a full understanding of these key demographic questions. Weller (1968) provided the first detailed study of patterns of host use and reproductive success in Heteronetta, with a pioneering one-year study on a series of interconnected wetlands near General Lavalle, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, we studied Black-headed Ducks over four breeding seasons (1992)(1993)(1994)1997), and across a broad survey of wetlands, which should enable us to determine whether any of Weller's findings were specific to the particular wetlands he studied, or perhaps the year in which he conducted his study. Most recently, Cofré et al (2007) used a correlational approach to identify host species that are likely important to Blackheaded Ducks in Chile: they searched for correlations between the abundance of various potential host species on individual wetlands and the abundance of Blackheaded Ducks on those same wetlands.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Patterns of host use by a precocial obligate brood parasite, the Black-headed Duck: ecological and evolutionary considerations

Lyon

Eadie²

2013

Chinese Birds

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The Black-headed Duck (Heteronetta atricapilla) is unique among obligate avian brood parasites because its highly precocial young leave the host nest shortly after hatching and impose no post-hatching costs on their hosts. Accordingly, we might expect host-parasite interactions in this parasite to differ strikingly from those of other brood parasites-they should be able to parasitize a broad diversity of hosts and be highly successful with these hosts. We conducted the second detailed study ever completed on patterns of host use in Black-headed Ducks. Based on four years of systematic searches of multiple marshes in Argentina, we found no evidence that Black-headed Ducks ever had nests of their own, confirming the previous conclusion that Black-headed Ducks are, indeed, true obligate brood parasites. Contrary to expectation, however, we found that Heteronetta is ecologically dependent on a surprisingly small number of host species-two species of coots and a gull-all of which are widespread and locally abundant species. Other species are numerically less important as hosts either because they are relatively uncommon, or because they are avoided by the ducks. In the three main host species, hatching success of the duck eggs was also surprisingly low (≤ 28%), based on expectations for a precocial parasite, mainly due to host rejection or neglect. Mortality due to predation on host nests, in contrast, was low for all three primary host species. These observations corroborate Weller's observations from a single-year study. The combination of a dependence on few primary hosts and a relatively low hatching success are inconsistent with some previous hypotheses for the evolution of obligate brood parasitism in Heteronetta. Instead, our observations, and those of Weller, suggest that intense nest predation in Austral wetlands, coupled with an abundance of a few common host species that aggressively defend their nests and obtain high nest success rates, may have been an important factor in the evolution of obligate parasitism in this enigmatic duck.

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Section: Ecological and Evolutionary Implications Of Patterns Of Hostmentioning

confidence: 72%

Section: Ecological and Evolutionary Implications Of Patterns Of Hostmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Patterns of host use by a precocial obligate brood parasite, the Black-headed Duck: ecological and evolutionary considerations

Lyon

Eadie²

2013

Chinese Birds

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Did extreme nest predation favor the evolution of obligate brood parasitism in a duck?

Lyon

Carminati²,

Goggin³

et al. 2022

Ecology and Evolution

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Obligate brood parasites depend entirely on other species to raise their offspring. Most avian obligate brood parasites have altricial offspring that require enormous amounts of posthatching parental care, and the large fecundity boost that comes with complete emancipation from parental care likely played a role in the independent evolution of obligate parasitism in several altricial lineages. The evolution of obligate parasitism in the black‐headed duck, however, is puzzling because its self‐feeding precocial offspring should not constrain parental fecundity of a potential brood parasite in the way that altricial offspring do. We used an experimental nest predation study to test the idea that high nest predation rates played a role in the evolution of brood parasitism in this enigmatic duck. Experimental duck eggs in untended nests suffered massive rapid predation, while eggs in tended nests of the three main hosts, all aggressive nest defenders, had very high success, illustrating the benefits of parasitizing these ‘bodyguard’ hosts.

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Natural History and Environmental Patterns in the El Yali Coastal Wetland, Central Chile

Fariña

Bertness

Silliman

et al. 2017

The Ecology and Natural History of Chilean Saltmarshes

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Local Distribution, Abundance and Conservation of Black-Headed Duck in the Mediterranean Wetlands of Chile

Cited by 5 publications

References 5 publications

Patterns of host use by a precocial obligate brood parasite, the Black-headed Duck: ecological and evolutionary considerations

Patterns of host use by a precocial obligate brood parasite, the Black-headed Duck: ecological and evolutionary considerations

Did extreme nest predation favor the evolution of obligate brood parasitism in a duck?

Natural History and Environmental Patterns in the El Yali Coastal Wetland, Central Chile

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