Laura L. Payne

Bio: Laura L. Payne is an academic researcher from University of Michigan. The author has contributed to research in topics: Brood parasite & Population. The author has an hindex of 15, co-authored 20 publications receiving 1050 citations. Previous affiliations of Laura L. Payne include Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.

Imprinting and the origin of parasite–host species associations in brood-parasitic indigobirds, Vidua chalybeata

Abstract: Brood-parasitic village indigobirds, Vidua chalybeata, were bred in captivity and foster-reared by their normal host species, the red-billed firefinch, Lagonosticta senegala, or by an experimental foster species, the Bengalese finch, Lonchura striata. Captive-reared female indigobirds were tested as adults for mate choice and for host choice. In tests of mate choice, female indigobirds responded preferentially towards mimicry songs of male indigobirds that were similar to those of the females’ own foster parents. Females reared by Bengalese finches responded to male songs that mimicked Bengalese finch song rather than to male songs that mimicked their normal host species, the firefinch. In tests of host choice, females reared by Bengalese finches laid in the nests of Bengalese finches, and females reared by firefinches laid in the nests of firefinches. Wild-caught females showed the same behaviours as captive-bred females reared by firefinches. A female indigobird’s social companions (firefinch or Bengalese) following her independence of her foster parents had no effect on her sexual response to male mimicry song or her choice of a host species in brood parasitism. The results support the predictions of a model of imprinting-like behaviour development in which young indigobirds focus their attention on their foster parents, rather than a model of innate bias for songs and nests of their normal host species, or a null model of nonspecific brood parasitism and differential survival. The results provide experimental support for the recent origin of brood parasite–host associations and the significance of imprinting in speciation in these brood parasites.  2000 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour

Brood parasitism by cowbirds: risks and effects on reproductive success and survival in indigo buntings

Abstract: We observed brood parasitism by brown-beaded cowbirds (Molothrus atsr) on indigo buntings (Passerma cyanta) and estimated die impact of parasitism on the success of the individual buntings in their current nests and in their future survival and reproduction. Rates of parasitism over 8 years were 26.6% in 1040 nests and 19.8% in 693 nests in two areas in southern Michigan. Risk of parasitism was high early in the season; half the bunting nests were begun after the end of the cowbird season. Risk was independent of female age, plant containing the nest, or habitat The immediate cost of parasitism was 1.19 and 1.26 fewer buntings fledged per nest. Bunting success was lower in parasitized nests with cowbird eggs (nests were more likely to be deserted or predated), lower when the cowbird nestling failed (nests were more likely to be predated), and lower when the cowbird fledged (fewer buntings fledged) compared to nonparasitized nests. Costs were due to removal of a bunting egg when die cowbird laid its own egg and to competition for parental care of the cowbird and bunting nestlings. Buntings that fledged from nests where a cowbird also fledged were only 18% as likely to survive and return to their natal area in the next year as buntings from nests where a cowbird did not fledge. Long-term effects of cowbird parasitism on adult breeding later in the season, survival to the next season, and reproductive success in the next season were negligible when compared between birds that reared a cowbird and birds that reared only a bunting brood, or between birds that were parasitized and birds that escaped parasitism. The results indicate little long-term cost of brood parasitism on individual fitness of adult buntings beyond the impact on the current nest and the survival of buntings that fledge from it; nearly all cost is to the parasitized brood. Kty words: breeding seasons, brood parasitism, brown-headed cowbirds, cost of parasitism, cost of reproduction, indigo buntings, individual fitness, Molothrus ater, natal philopatry, nest predation, nestling competition, Passerrna cyanta, postfledging survival, reproductive success. [Behav Ecol 9:64-73 (1998)]

Biological and cultural success of song memes in indigo buntings

Abstract: Song behavior, breeding success, and survival of individuals and the survival of their local song traditions or memes were compared in two populations of Indigo Buntings (Passerina cyanea) in southern Michigan. First-year males were less successful than older males. First-year males with the song of a neighboring adult tended to be more successful in mating and in fledging young than were 1st-yr males that retained an individualistic song. Adults that were members of a local song neighborhood tended to be more successful than adults that were not. Reproductive and survival success of individual birds did not vary with the number of males in the meme. The different song traditions (memes) are equivalent in biological terms to mating success, breeding success, and survival of their bearers. Memes are successful in a cultural sense if they survive from year to year. Meme survival is determined largely by the number of individual birds in the song group; chances are high that at least one male with the song will return in the larger groups. Songs are learned outside the family context, kin usually do not have the same song, and a female selects a mate independently of whether his song is the same as her father's. The change over time in the local meme pool is independent of any obviously associated genetic traits, and cultural extinction of song memes is described in probabilistic terms of meme size.

Song learning in brood-parasitic indigobirds Vidua chalybeata: song mimicry of the host species.

Abstract: Brood-parasitic village indigobirds, Vidua chalybeata , were bred in captivity and foster-reared by their normal host, red-billed firefinch, Lagonosticta senegala , or by an experimental foster species, Bengalese finch, Lonchura striata . Male indigobirds reared by Bengalese finches developed the songs of Bengalese finches, and males reared by firefinches developed songs of firefinches. Males copied their foster father only when they had lived with him long after independence (45 days post-fledging), while males separated normally at independence (22–24 days post-fledging) copied songs of other individuals and not songs of their foster father. Males reared by Bengalese finches showed no preference to learn firefinch song over songs of the experimental foster species or other control finch species even when they had lived with firefinches as companions from the time of fledging to independence. Males copied several song themes, acquired the same number of mimicry songs, and acquired their songs at the same age, whether reared by Bengalese finches or by firefinches. When they lived with other indigobirds, the male indigobirds copied mimicry songs of male indigobirds that mimicked the same foster species. We predicted mimicry-song specificity and repertoire size in experimental indigobirds from a hypothesis of an early developmental period when young indigobirds focus their attention on their foster parents, and a later period when they direct their attention to other birds with similar songs. The predictions, based on field observations of wild birds, were that (1) males reared by a novel foster species other than the normal host would learn the song of that foster species, and (2) males that left their foster parents at the normal time of independence would copy the songs of other individuals, including other adult indigobirds that mimicked the same foster species. Begging calls of young indigobirds did not mimic the calls of young firefinches. Indigobirds reared alone, or with young of the normal host or of the experimental foster species, all developed begging calls in adult song that resembled their own begging as nestlings and fledglings, and only males that heard other adult indigobirds with firefinch-mimicry begging developed firefinch begging in their song. The incorporation of the innate begging calls as well as the learned begging calls into adult song, and the modification of the song themes of their individual song models, suggest that song development involves processes in addition to copying the songs of their own foster species and of older adult male indigobirds with songs like their own foster parents.

Avian Life History Evolution in Relation to Nest Sites, Nest Predation, and Food

Abstract: Food limitation is generally thought to underlie much of the variation in life history traits of birds. I examined variation and covariation of life history traits of 123 North American Passeriformes and Piciformes in relation to nest sites, nest predation, and foraging sites to examine the possible roles of these ecological factors in life history evolution of birds. Annual fecundity was strongly inversely related to adult survivaI, even when phylogenetic effects were controlled. Only a little of the variation in fecundity and survival was related to foraging sites, whereas these traits varied strongly among nest sites. Interspecific differences in nest predation were correlated with much of the variation in life history traits among nest sites, although energy trade-offs with covarying traits also may account for some variation. For example, increased nest predation is associated with a shortened nestling period and both are associated with more broods per year, but number of broods is inversely correlated with clutch size, possibly due to an energy trade-off. Number of broods was much more strongly correlated with annual fecundity and adult survival among species than was clutch size, suggesting that clutch size may not be the primary fecundity trait on which selection is acting. Ultimately, food limitation may cause trade-offs between annual fecundity and adult survival, but differences among species in tecundity and adult survival may not be explained by differences in food abundance and instead represent differing tactics for partitioning similar levels of food limitation. Variation in fecundity and adult survival is more clearly organized by nest sites and more closely correlated with nest predation; species that use nest sites with greater nest predation have shorter nestling periods and more broods, yielding higher fecundity, which in turn is associated with reduced adult survival. Fecundity also varied with migratory tendencies; short-distance migrants had more broods and greater fecundity than did neotropical migrants and residents using similar nest sites. HowevEr, migratory tendencies and habitat use were confounded, making separation of these two effects difficult. Nonetheless, the conventional view that neotropical migrants have fewer broods than residents was not supported when nest site effects were controlled

An Update of Wallace’s Zoogeographic Regions of the World

Abstract: Modern attempts to produce biogeographic maps focus on the distribution of species, and the maps are typically drawn without phylogenetic considerations. Here, we generate a global map of zoogeographic regions by combining data on the distributions and phylogenetic relationships of 21,037 species of amphibians, birds, and mammals. We identify 20 distinct zoogeographic regions, which are grouped into 11 larger realms. We document the lack of support for several regions previously defined based on distributional data and show that spatial turnover in the phylogenetic composition of vertebrate assemblages is higher in the Southern than in the Northern Hemisphere. We further show that the integration of phylogenetic information provides valuable insight on historical relationships among regions, permitting the identification of evolutionarily unique regions of the world.

Variation in survivorship of a migratory songbird throughout its annual cycle

Abstract: Summary 1 Demographic data from both breeding and non-breeding periods are needed to manage populations of migratory birds, many of which are declining in abundance and are of conservation concern. Although habitat associations, and to a lesser extent, reproductive biology, are known for many migratory species, few studies have measured survival rates of these birds at different parts of their annual cycle. 2 Cormack–Jolly–Seber models and Akaike’s information criterion model selection were used to investigate seasonal variation in survival of a Nearctic – Neotropical migrant songbird, the black-throated blue warbler, Dendroica caerulescens. Seasonal and annual survival were estimated from resightings of colour-ringed individuals on breeding grounds in New Hampshire, USA from 1986 to 2000 and on winter quarters in Jamaica, West Indies from 1986 to 1999. Warblers were studied each year during the May–August breeding period in New Hampshire and during the October–March overwinter period in Jamaica. 3 In New Hampshire, males had higher annual survival (0·51 ± 0·03) and recapture probabilities (0·93 ± 0·03) than did females (survival: 0·40 ± 0·04; recapture: 0·87 ± 0·06). In Jamaica, annual survival (0·43 ± 0·03) and recapture (0·95 ± 0·04) probabilities did not differ between sexes. Annual survival and recapture probabilities of young birds (i.e. yearlings in New Hampshire and hatch-year birds in Jamaica) did not differ from adults, indicating that from the time hatch-year individuals acquire territories on winter quarters in mid-October, they survive as well as adults within the same habitat. 4 Monthly survival probabilities during the summer (May–August) and winter (October–March) stationary periods were high: 1·0 for males in New Hampshire, and 0·99 ± 0·01 for males in Jamaica and for females in both locations. 5 These annual and seasonal survival estimates were used to calculate warbler survival for the migratory periods. Monthly survival probability during migration ranged from 0·77 to 0·81 ± 0·02. Thus, apparent mortality rates were at least 15 times higher during migration compared to that in the stationary periods, and more than 85% of apparent annual mortality of D. caerulescens occurred during migration. 6 Additional data from multiple species, especially measures of habitat-specific demography and dispersal, will improve our understanding of the relative impacts of the breeding, migratory, and winter periods on population dynamics of migratory birds and thus enhance future conservation efforts.

A Model System for Coevolution: Avian Brood Parasitism

Abstract: Many putative examples of coevolution do not stand up to critical analysis. A rigorous definition of coevolution requires that a trait in one species has evolved in response to a trait of another species, which trait was itself evolved in response to the first species (50, 69). This type of intimate, reciprocal evolutionary relationship is hard to demonstrate because most species interact with many other species, all of which may affect their evolution. For example, a host species is likely to be affected by many types of parasitic helminths and protozoans. Accordingly, some of its defenses will be fairly general and not attributable to any particular species of parasite. Such situations are termed diffuse coevolution, as opposed to pairwise coevolution in which adaptations have a stepwise, reciprocal nature. Unfortunately, diffuse coevolution is difficult to document because additional species may need to be considered. Also, adapting to many species may compromise adaptations to any one species so much that coevolutionary traits are weakly expressed and hard to identify. Systems in which the interacting species are few (optimally only two) provide the clearest examples of coevolution. Such systems include many mutualistic relationships and some parasite-host associations (51). Among the latter, brood parasitism provides some of the most persuasive examples of coevolution because it often involves small numbers of species.

A model system of coevolution: avian brood parasitism.

Abstract: Many putative examples of coevolution do not stand up to critical analysis. A rigorous definition of coevolution requires that a trait in one species has evolved in response to a trait of another species, which trait was itself evolved in response to the first species (50, 69). This type of intimate, reciprocal evolutionary relationship is hard to demonstrate because most species interact with many other species, all of which may affect their evolution. For example, a host species is likely to be affected by many types of parasitic helminths and protozoans. Accordingly, some of its defenses will be fairly general and not attributable to any particular species of parasite. Such situations are termed diffuse coevolution, as opposed to pairwise coevolution in which adaptations have a stepwise, reciprocal nature. Unfortunately, diffuse coevolution is difficult to document because additional species may need to be considered. Also, adapting to many species may compromise adaptations to any one species so much that coevolutionary traits are weakly expressed and hard to identify. Systems in which the interacting species are few (optimally only two) provide the clearest examples of coevolution. Such systems include many mutualistic relationships and some parasite-host associations (51). Among the latter, brood parasitism provides some of the most persuasive examples of coevolution because it often involves small numbers of species.