Article
Biology
Nicholas D. Antonson, Wendy M. Schelsky, Deryk Tolman, Rebecca M. Kilner, Mark E. Hauber
Summary: In the obligate brood parasitic brown-headed cowbird, chicks use a niche construction strategy by reducing larger, more competitive host broods to increase their own survival.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Biology
Ignacio Crudele, Juan C. Reboreda, Vanina D. Fiorini
Summary: Animals learn to recognize conspecifics through early experience and sexual imprinting. However, brood parasitic birds cannot develop conspecific recognition using their foster parents' cues. One solution for brood parasitic cowbirds is the innate vocalization called chatter, which triggers the learning of visual characteristics of conspecifics through cross-modal learning.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Natalia A. Cossa, Juan C. Reboreda, Vanina D. Fiorini
Summary: The study found that female shiny and screaming cowbirds adjust their egg-pecking behavior based on the strength rather than the size of the eggs they find in the nest. When there is a high difference in strength between eggs, both cowbird species peck more frequently at the egg with the weaker shell, increasing the probability of a successful puncture. This indicates that female cowbirds can discriminate eggs based on the strength of the shell and choose the weaker egg to peck, thus increasing the probability of puncturing.
Article
Ecology
Ignacio Crudele, Juan C. Reboreda, Vanina D. Fiorini
Summary: Avian brood parasites have the ability to recognize and associate with conspecifics. The unique signal of cowbirds may trigger the development of conspecific recognition. This study found that nestlings of the shiny cowbird showed a preferential begging response to conspecific chatter calls.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Jimena Lois-Milevicich, Alex Kacelnik, Juan Carlos Reboreda
Summary: The study found that in locating food sources, shiny cowbird females exhibited stronger spatial memory abilities compared to screaming cowbird females.
Article
Ecology
Jiaojiao Wang, Laikun Ma, Xiangyang Chen, Canchao Yang
Summary: The study demonstrates that nest parasites can harm hosts, leading to the evolution of anti-parasitic behaviors in hosts. In the case of oriental reed warblers, hosts showed stronger responses during the nestling stage compared to the egg stage, indicating potential differences in their perception of different threats.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Biology
Jinggang Zhang, Peter Santema, Zixuan Lin, Lixing Yang, Meijun Liu, Jianqiang Li, Wenhong Deng, Bart Kempenaers
Summary: The arms race between brood parasites and their hosts provides a classic model to study coevolution. Hosts often reject the parasitic egg, and brood parasites should therefore select host nests in which the colour of the eggs best matches that of their own. We reported on a study of Daurian redstarts, which show a distinct egg-colour dimorphism, with females laying either blue or pink eggs. The study demonstrated that cuckoos actively choose redstart nests in which the egg colour matches the colour of their own eggs, providing direct experimental evidence in support of the egg matching hypothesis.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Ornithology
Romina C. Scardamaglia, Axel A. Lew, Agustin Gravano, David W. Winkler, Alex Kacelnik, Juan C. Reboreda
Summary: The study found that the Screaming Cowbird exhibits social monogamy, with mated pairs remaining together throughout the breeding season and spending more time in proximity to their mates. This differs from the social polygyny/promiscuity seen in the sympatric congener, the Shiny Cowbird.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Longwu Wang, Gangbin He, Canchao Yang, Anders Pape Moller, Wei Liang
Summary: The study found that female common cuckoos prefer large host nests for parasitism and parasitism was more common when larger, higher, and more exposed host nests were available. These results suggest that nest size and location play a role in the probability of cuckoo parasitism.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Emily W. Johnson, Susan B. McRae
Summary: This study explores the use of eggshell pattern to identify maternal signatures in birds and investigates the identification of renesting females and cases of conspecific brood parasitism. The research shows that egg pattern can be used to identify similarities among clutches and reveal previously unrecognized site fidelity and breeding interference by females when combined with spatial and temporal data.
Article
Ornithology
Jonas Rafael Rodrigues Rosoni, Carla Suertegaray Fontana, Caio Jose Carlos
Summary: This study examined the breeding ecology of the Chestnut Seedeater in southeast South America. The researchers investigated clutch size, productivity, nestling sex ratio, and nest success. They found a relationship between environmental variables and the number of active nests, and the sex ratio of nestlings did not deviate from the expected ratio. Nest success was 31%, with predation being the leading cause of nest failure. The starting date was the main predictor of nest survival.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Qiuhui Yang, Xiangyang Chen, Ziqi Zhang, Jingru Han, Neng Wu, Canchao Yang
Summary: Birds often clean their nests and reject foreign eggs to ensure the survival of their own eggs. The study suggests that nest sanitation in barn swallows may be an evolutionary precursor to egg rejection. Both male and female barn swallows engage in nest sanitation and egg rejection, but females invest more time. This provides evidence for the evolutionary relationship between nest sanitation and egg rejection behaviors in barn swallows.
Article
Ecology
Bruce E. Lyon, Alejandra Carminati, Genevieve Goggin, John M. Eadie
Summary: Obligate brood parasites rely completely on other species to raise their offspring. The evolution of obligate parasitism is likely due to the increased reproductive success that comes with being emancipated from parental care. However, the evolution of brood parasitism in black-headed ducks is puzzling because their self-feeding precocial offspring should not limit the reproductive potential of potential brood parasites. Experimental evidence suggests that high nest predation rates may have played a role in the evolution of brood parasitism in this duck.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Zoology
Alfredo Attisano, Kasper Hlebowicz, Roman Gula, Jorn Theuerkauf
Summary: The study found that adult fan-tailed gerygones can discriminate between different predator and brood parasite models and respond accordingly. Although adult gerygones do not show awareness of parasitism risk and do not increase nestling ejection rates following exposure to the cuckoo model.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Caroline M. Thow, John M. Eadie, Caitlin P. Wells, Bruce E. Lyon
Summary: Modern genetic parentage methods show that both males and females commonly use alternative reproductive strategies, but complications may arise in certain breeding systems and sampling scenarios. Simulation studies reveal that different programs can lead to varying errors in parentage assignment, and reducing the number of markers may impact the accuracy of assignment.
MOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES
(2022)