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Journal ArticleDOI

The frontline of avian brood parasite-host coevolution

TL;DR: The incorporation of frontline interactions in empirical and theoretical investigations of brood parasite–host arms races are advocated to provide a more holistic understanding of the coevolutionary processes in these systems.
About: This article is published in Animal Behaviour.The article was published on 2012-07-01. It has received 151 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Evolutionary arms race & Brood.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A model suggests that as an increasing number of species acquire successful resistance, other unparasitized host species become more profitable and their parasitism rate and the costs imposed by brood parasitism at the population level will increase, selecting for the evolution of host defences.
Abstract: Coevolutionary theory predicts that the most common long-term outcome of the relationships between brood parasites and their hosts should be coevolutionary cycles based on a dynamic change selecting the currently least-defended host species, given that when well-defended hosts are abandoned, hosts will be selected to decrease their defences as these are usually assumed to be costly. This is assumed to be the case also in brood parasite-host systems. Here I examine the frequency of the three potential long-term outcomes of brood parasite-host coevolution (coevolutionary cycles, lack of rejection, and successful resistance) in 182 host species. The results of simple exploratory comparisons show that coevolutionary cycles are very scarce while the lack of rejection and successful resistance, which are considered evolutionary enigmas, are much more frequent. I discuss these results considering (i) the importance of different host defences at all stages of the breeding cycle, (ii) the role of phenotypic plasticity in long-term coevolution, and (iii) the evolutionary history of host selection. I suggest that in purely antagonistic coevolutionary interactions, such as those involving brood parasites and their hosts, that although cycles will exist during an intermediate phase of the interactions, the arms race will end with the extinction of the host or with the host acquiring successful resistance. As evolutionary time passes, this resistance will force brood parasites to use previously less suitable host species. Furthermore, I present a model that represents the long-term trajectories and outcomes of coevolutionary interactions between brood parasites and their hosts with respect to the evolution of egg-rejection defence. This model suggests that as an increasing number of species acquire successful resistance, other unparasitized host species become more profitable and their parasitism rate and the costs imposed by brood parasitism at the population level will increase, selecting for the evolution of host defences. This means that although acceptance is adaptive when the parasitism rate and the costs of parasitism are very low, this cannot be considered to represent an evolutionary equilibrium, as conventional theory has done to date, because it is not stable.

194 citations


Cites background from "The frontline of avian brood parasi..."

  • ...Thus, an efficient frontline defence could obviate the evolution of later lines of defence and provide more overall benefits because, by avoiding parasitism, hosts can maintain their reproductive output intact (Britton et al., 2007; Feeney et al., 2012)....

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  • ...Many host species exhibit defences prior to the deposition of the parasitic egg (the ‘frontline’ of the arms race; Feeney et al., 2012)....

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  • ...The great majority of studies on brood parasitism deal with egg recognition because other defences have been neglected until recently (see Grim, 2006; Soler, 2009; Feeney et al., 2012)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The evolution and phylogenetic history of avian brood parasitism is discussed, and coevolved adaptations and counteradaptations in brood parasites and hosts at all stages of the host nesting cycle are examined.
Abstract: The interactions between avian obligate interspecific brood parasites and their hosts provide tractable systems for studying coevolutionary processes in nature. This review highlights recent advances in understanding coevolution in these systems. First, we discuss the evolution and phylogenetic history of avian brood parasitism. Next, we examine coevolved adaptations and counteradaptations in brood parasites and hosts at all stages of the host nesting cycle: those that precede laying of the parasitic egg and those at the egg, chick, and fledgling stages. We then consider the factors that affect the evolution of offense and defense portfolios (the suites of adaptations and counteradaptations across the nesting cycle), and the outcomes of coevolutionary interactions between brood parasites and hosts. Ongoing efforts to document the diversity of host defenses and parasite offenses will facilitate understanding of coevolutionary processes and the ecological and evolutionary consequences of species interaction...

120 citations


Cites background from "The frontline of avian brood parasi..."

  • ...This frontline of the arms race is defined as the adaptations and counteradaptations that operate before insertion of the parasite egg in the host nest (Welbergen & Davies 2009, Feeney et al. 2012)....

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  • ...…and possibly assess nest suitability (Massoni & Reboreda 1999, Gloag et al. 2013), locate potential host nests by “flushing” the host from the nest, exhibit male-female cooperation, or simply push the defending hosts off their nest to allow parasitism (reviewed by Davies 2000, Feeney et al. 2012)....

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  • ...It is phylogenetically widespread and has been identified in arthropods, fishes, and birds (Feeney et al. 2012)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jun 2013-Ethology
TL;DR: Evidence for functionally referential alarm calls in birds is reviewed based on explicit tests of two criteria proposed in Macedonia & Evans’ influential conceptual framework, suggesting that unique alarm calls are given to specific predator categories and elicit antipredator responses from receivers similar to those produced during actual predator encounters.
Abstract: A long-standing question in animal communication is whether signals reveal intrinsic properties of the signaller or extrinsic properties of its environment. Alarm calls, one of the most conspicuous components of antipredator behaviour, intuitively would appear to reflect internal states of the signaller. Pioneering research in primates and fowl, however, demonstrated that signallers may produce unique alarm calls during encounters with different types of predators, suggesting that signallers through selective production of alarm calls provide to conspecific receivers information about predators in the environment. In this article, we review evidence for such ‘functional reference’ in the alarm calls of birds based on explicit tests of two criteria proposed in Macedonia & Evans’ (Ethology 93, 1993, 177) influential conceptual framework: (1) that unique alarm calls are given to specific predator categories, and (2) that alarm calls isolated from contextual information elicit antipredator responses from receivers similar to those produced during actual predator encounters. Despite the importance of research on birds in development of the conceptual framework and the ubiquity of alarm calls in birds, evidence for functionally referential alarm calls in this clade is limited to six species. In these species, alarm calls are associated with the type of predator encountered as well as variation in hunting behaviour; with defence of reproductive effort in addition to predators of adults; with age-related changes in predation risk; and with strong fitness benefits. Our review likely underestimates the occurrence of functional reference in avian alarm calls, as incomplete application and testing of the conceptual framework has limited our understanding. Throughout, therefore, we suggest avian taxa for future studies, as well as additional questions and experimental approaches that would strengthen our understanding of the meaning of functional reference in avian alarm calls.

104 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
20 Dec 2013-Science
TL;DR: It is reported that the global distributions of avian obligate brood parasites and cooperatively breeding passerines are tightly correlated and that the uneven phylogenetic distribution of cooperative breeding is associated with the uneven targeting of hosts by brood parasites.
Abstract: The global distribution of cooperatively breeding birds is highly uneven, with hotspots in Australasia and sub-Saharan Africa. The ecological drivers of this distribution remain enigmatic yet could yield insights into the evolution and persistence of cooperative breeding. We report that the global distributions of avian obligate brood parasites and cooperatively breeding passerines are tightly correlated and that the uneven phylogenetic distribution of cooperative breeding is associated with the uneven targeting of hosts by brood parasites. With a long-term field study, we show that brood parasites can acquire superior care for their young by targeting cooperative breeders. Conversely, host defenses against brood parasites are strengthened by helpers at the nest. Reciprocally selected interactions between brood parasites and cooperative breeders may therefore explain the close association between these two breeding systems.

97 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Feb 1941-Nature
TL;DR: The Truth about the Cuckoo by Edgar P. Chance as mentioned in this paper is a more definite book than the author's earlier one, and conclusions which were originally put forward as tentative or partly true are now regarded as established.
Abstract: MR. EDGAR CHANCE has produced a book which will be of interest not merely to those who watch and study birds and derive profit and pleasure from so doing, but also to the avian physiologist who concerns himself with the functions of the living parts of the bird and attempts to compare and correlate the processes which go on in them. This second book is fuller and more definite than the author's earlier one, entitled “The Cuckoo's Secret”, and conclusions which were originally put forward as tentative or partly true are now regarded as established. No one who reads these books can fail to admire the industry, the patient deliberation and the ingenuity shown by the author in conducting his investigations, which have extended over more than twenty years. The Truth about the Cuckoo By Edgar P. Chance. Pp. xvi + 208 + 38 plates. (London: Country Life, Ltd.; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940.) 12s. 6d. net.

70 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The arms race concept is suggested to help to resolve three long-standing questions in evolutionary theory: one lineage may drive the other to extinction, one may reach an optimum, thereby preventing the other from doing so, and both sides may reach a mutual local optimum.
Abstract: An adaptation in one lineage (e.g. predators) may change the selection pressure on another lineage (e.g. prey), giving rise to a counter-adaptation. If this occurs reciprocally, an unstable runaway escalation or 9arms race9 may result. We discuss various factors which might give one side an advantage in an arms race. For example, a lineage under strong selection may out-evolve a weakly selected one (9the life-dinner principle9). We then classify arms races in two independent ways. They may be symmetric or asymmetric, and they may be interspecific or intraspecific. Our example of an asymmetric interspecific arms race is that between brood parasites and their hosts. The arms race concept may help to reduce the mystery of why cuckoo hosts are so good at detecting cuckoo eggs, but so bad at detecting cuckoo nestlings. The evolutionary contest between queen and worker ants over relative parental investment is a good example of an intraspecific asymmetric arms race. Such cases raise special problems because the participants share the same gene pool. Interspecific symmetric arms races are unlikely to be important, because competitors tend to diverge rather than escalate competitive adaptations. Intraspecific symmetric arms races, exemplified by adaptations for male-male competition, may underlie Cope9s Rule and even the extinction of lineages. Finally we consider ways in which arms races can end. One lineage may drive the other to extinction; one may reach an optimum, thereby preventing the other from doing so; a particularly interesting possibility, exemplified by flower-bee coevolution, is that both sides may reach a mutual local optimum; lastly, arms races may have no stable end but may cycle continuously. We do not wish necessarily to suggest that all, or even most, evolutionary change results from arms races, but we do suggest that the arms race concept may help to resolve three long-standing questions in evolutionary theory. 9Wonderful and admirable as most instincts are, yet they cannot be considered as absolutely perfect: there is a constant struggle going on throughout nature between the instinct of the one to escape its enemy and of the other to secure its prey9 (Charles Darwin, in Romanes I883).

1,931 citations


"The frontline of avian brood parasi..." refers background in this paper

  • ...The reproductive cost of hosting a parasite selects for defensive host adaptations, which in turn select for counteradaptations in the parasite (Davies 2000; Kilner & Langmore 2011), binding host and parasite in a coevolutionary arms race (Dawkins & Krebs 1979)....

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Book
01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: This book discusses the co-evolution of host defences and Common Cuckoo trickery, as well as one hundred species of brood parasitic birds and some puzzles.
Abstract: Acknowledgements ix 1. A monstrous outrage on maternal affection 1 2. One hundred brood parasites and some puzzles 11 3. The Common Cuckoo and its hosts 26 4. Co-evolution of host defences and Common Cuckoo trickery 43 5. How to spot a cuckoo egg 59 6. Driving parents cuckoo 70 7. Bronze-cuckoos in Africa and Australia 82 8. The non-evicting cuckoos: manipulative nestlings and Mafia tactics 98 9. Cuckoos versus hosts: who wins? 117 10. The Brown-headed Cowbird and its conquest of North America 141 11. Old and new hosts of the Brown-headed Cowbird and conservation problems 159 12. 'Shot-gun' Shiny and specialist Screaming Cowbirds, with cowbirds and cuckoos compared 177 13. The parasitic finches of Africa: mimicry of host chicks and host songs 194 14. Cheating on your own kind 211 15. Origins 241 Notes on the chapters 257 Appendix 1: The one hundred species of brood parasitic birds 263 Appendix 2: Scientific names of birds and other animals mentioned in the text 271 References 276 Index 299 Other books in the series 311 The colour plate section can be found between pages 150 and 151.

852 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Systems in which the interacting species are few (optimally only two) provide the clearest examples of coevolution, which includes many mutualistic relationships and some parasite-host associations.
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.

675 citations


"The frontline of avian brood parasi..." refers background in this paper

  • ...These relationships often exhibit distinct and tractable adaptations and counteradaptations, facilitating their use as experimental systems for studying coevolutionary processes (Rothstein 1990; Brandt et al. 2005; Cervo 2006)....

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01 Jan 1990
TL;DR: 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 by the first species as discussed by the authors.
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.

656 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Reed warblers did not discriminate against unlike chicks (another species) and did not favour either a cuckoo chick or their own chicks when these were placed in two nests side by side and experiments showed that host discrimination selects for egg mimicry by cuckoos.

637 citations