Unusual diet of brood parasitic nestlings and its fitness consequences

Grim, Tomáš; Tyller, Zdeněk; Samaš, Peter

doi:10.1642/auk-16-242.1

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…During the post-fledging stage, the cuckoo received approximately 34% more feeds per hour than a single redstart fledgling, but such a difference does not reflect the fact that the cuckoo fledgling is about six times heavier than a single redstart fledgling (fig. 1 in [24]). It is also very likely that parents usually feed more than one redstart fledgling because non-parasitized nests usually fledge 5.7 redstarts [16].…”

Section: (A) Quantitative Predictions Versus Estimated Costsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although redstarts show very low resistance [16,23], coevolved 'decreased host resistance' or 'tolerance' [51,52] does not seem to apply in the redstart-cuckoo system. This is because, by definition, 'tolerance does not inhibit the parasites' growth or reproduction, but minimizes the impact of parasite attacks' [52]-and ample evidence [16,20,[22][23][24]27,32] shows that cuckoos in redstart nests suffer both dramatically reduced growth and reproduction.…”

Section: (D) Reduced Parasite Virulence and Increased Host Tolerance?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, unlike parental effort indicators of body condition and H/L ratio, feeding frequency is only a proxy indicator as it may not reflect the true load size [46]. Still, redstarts feed nestlings, both their own and parasitic, with similar prey types which does not suggest any differences in prey or load size [24] (note that prey size differences in diet delivered to own versus cuckoo nestlings covary with diet composition differences [47]). Surprisingly, cuckoo fledglings reached independence 2 days earlier than redstarts, while they required seven extra days of parenting during the nestling stage.…”

Section: (A) Quantitative Predictions Versus Estimated Costsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This system also exhibits some unique features: redstart-cuckoos typically do not remove a host egg when laying [23], cavity nests impede successful eviction of the host's progeny and the cuckoo is sometimes forced to grow alongside redstarts (hereafter: mixed brood). Despite all the obstacles the cuckoo faces [24], the redstart-cuckoo-host system has persisted over two million years [25] and various redstart populations currently experience consistently high parasitism rates (approx. 30% in parasitized populations: [16]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rearing a virulent common cuckoo is not extra costly for its only cavity-nesting host

Samaš

Rutila²,

Honza

et al. 2018

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Virulent brood parasites refrain from arduous parental care, often kill host progeny and inflict rearing costs upon their hosts. Quantifying the magnitude of such costs across the whole period of care (from incubation through to parasite fledgling independence) is essential for understanding the selection pressures on hosts to evolve antiparasitic defences. Despite the central importance of such costs for our understanding of coevolutionary dynamics, they have not yet been comprehensively quantified in any host of any avian brood parasite. We quantified parasite-rearing costs in common redstarts Phoenicurus phoenicurus raising either parasitic common cuckoo Cuculus canorus or their own chicks throughout the complete breeding cycle, and used multiple cost parameters for each breeding stage: incubation, brooding and feeding effort; length of parental/host care; parent/host body condition; and heterophil/lymphocyte ratio (stress-level indicator). Contrary to traditional assumptions, rearing the parasite per se was not associated with overall higher physiological or physical costs to hosts above the natural levels imposed by efforts to rear their own progeny. The low parasite-rearing costs imposed on hosts may, in part, explain the low levels of known host counter-defences in this unusually frequently parasitized cuckoo host.

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Section: (A) Quantitative Predictions Versus Estimated Costsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: (D) Reduced Parasite Virulence and Increased Host Tolerance?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: (A) Quantitative Predictions Versus Estimated Costsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Rearing a virulent common cuckoo is not extra costly for its only cavity-nesting host

Samaš

Rutila²,

Honza

et al. 2018

Proc. R. Soc. B.

Self Cite

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“…Brood parasites always depend on parasitized hosts for the care of their offspring. However, foster parents differ in their food provisioning ability of cuckoo nestlings caused by variation in parental quality (Brooke and Davies 1989;Grim et al 2017). Therefore, if altricial obligate brood parasites maximize the bene ts from the parental effort of their hosts, cuckoos should search for and select host nests with better quality during parasitism (de Neve et al 2004;Álvarez and Barba 2008;Jelínek et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nest Size Matters: Common Cuckoos Prefer to Parasitize Larger Nests of Oriental Reed Warblers

Wang

Yang

et al. 2021

Preprint

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BackgroundAvian brood parasites leave parental care of their offspring to foster parents. Theory predicts that parasites should select for large host nests when they have sufficient available host nests at a given time. We developed an empirical experimental design to address this hypothesis by studying nest choice of common cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) among nests of its Oriental reed warbler (Acrocephalus orientalis) hosts.ResultsWe presented two groups of experimental nests: 1) nest dyads comprise one large and one small artificial nest from reed leaves, and 2) nest triads tied together use the modified old own warbler nests including enlarged, reduced and medium sized nests to elicit parasitism by common cuckoos. We predicted that cuckoos prefer larger nests over medium sized ones, and over the smallest nest. Our experimental findings show that common cuckoo females generally prefer large nests over medium or small sized nests. Furthermore, experiments showed that cuckoo parasitism was significantly more common than in previous studies of the same warbler population.ConclusionsOur results implying that larger, taller and more exposed host nests effectively increased the probability of cuckoo parasitism.

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Cuckoo–Host Coevolutionary Interactions Across All Breeding Stages: Unusual Ecological Setting of a Cavity-Nesting Host

Grim

Rutila²

2017

Fascinating Life Sciences

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Unusual diet of brood parasitic nestlings and its fitness consequences

Cited by 13 publications

References 51 publications

Rearing a virulent common cuckoo is not extra costly for its only cavity-nesting host

Rearing a virulent common cuckoo is not extra costly for its only cavity-nesting host

Nest Size Matters: Common Cuckoos Prefer to Parasitize Larger Nests of Oriental Reed Warblers

Cuckoo–Host Coevolutionary Interactions Across All Breeding Stages: Unusual Ecological Setting of a Cavity-Nesting Host

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