No support for relatedness and kin selection to explain high rates of conspecific brood parasitism in colonial Red-breasted Mergansers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen Noel ◽  
Rodger Titman ◽  
Shawn R. Craik
Keyword(s):  
Kin Selection ◽  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Inclusive Fitness ◽  
Demographic Data ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Conspecific Brood Parasitism ◽  
Brood Parasites ◽  
Fitness Benefits ◽  
Small Decline ◽  
Diurnal Period

Conspecific brood parasitism (CBP) has been observed in approximately half of all species of waterfowl, a philopatric group in which breeding females are frequently locally related. It has been suggested that kin selection can facilitate the evolution of CBP in waterfowl via fitness benefits for the host and parasite. One model demonstrates that discrimination of related and unrelated parasites by the host must be sufficient for kinship to promote CBP, provided that costs of brood parasitism to host fitness are sufficiently low. We parameterized the model using demographic data and behavioural observations from a population of colonial Red-breasted Mergansers (Mergus serrator (Linnaeus, 1758)) in which 47% of nests were parasitized by conspecifics. The costs of 1-3 foreign eggs to host hatching success were generally small (decline of 1.8% per additional egg). Nevertheless, model outputs revealed that brood parasites maximize their inclusive fitness by avoiding nests of relatives, primarily because of constraints on a host’s ability to detect parasites at the nest. Indeed, hosts spent <8% of the diurnal period at the nest during egg laying, a period when parasite activity is greatest. It is thus highly unlikely that relatedness and kin selection promote brood parasitism in this population.

scholarly journals The ghosts of parasitism past: lingering frontline anti-brood parasite defences in a former host

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew H J Chaumont ◽  
Naomi E Langmore ◽  
Justin A Welbergen
Keyword(s):  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Arms Race ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Brood Parasite ◽  
Reed Warbler ◽  
Arms Races ◽  
Brood Parasites ◽  
Defensive Behaviors

Abstract Coevolutionary arms races between brood parasites and hosts provide tractable systems for understanding antagonistic coevolution in nature; however, little is known about the fate of frontline antiparasite defences when the host ‘wins’ the coevolutionary arms race. By recreating bygone species-interactions, using artificial parasitism experiments, lingering defensive behaviors that evolved in the context of parasitism can be understood and may even be used to identify the unknown agent of parasitism past. Here we present the first study of this type by evaluating lingering “frontline” nest defences that have evolved to prevent egg laying in a former brood parasite host. The Australian reed warbler Acrocephalus australis, is currently not parasitized but is known to exhibit fine-tuned egg discrimination—a defensive behavior indicative of a past brood parasite-host arms race and common in closely related parasitized species. Here, using 3 D-printed models of adult brood parasites, we examined whether the Australian reed warbler also exhibits frontline defences to adult brood parasites, and whether we could use these defences to identify the warbler’s “ghost of parasitism past”. Our findings provide evidence that the Australian reed warbler readily engages in frontline defences that are considered adaptive specifically in the context of brood parasitism. However, individuals were unable to discriminate between adults of different brood parasite species at their nest. Overall, our results demonstrate that despite a relaxation in selection, defences against brood parasitism can be maintained across multiple stages of the host’s nesting cycle, and further suggest that, in accordance with previous findings, that learning may be important for fine-tuning frontline defence.

scholarly journals Extreme offspring ornamentation in American coots is favored by selection within families, not benefits to conspecific brood parasites

2019 ◽  
Vol 117 (4) ◽  
pp. 2056-2064 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce E. Lyon ◽  
Daizaburo Shizuka
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Parental Choice ◽  
Food Distribution ◽  
Color Variation ◽  
Plumage Color ◽  
Conspecific Brood Parasitism ◽  
Brood Parasites ◽  
The Face

Offspring ornamentation typically occurs in taxa with parental care, suggesting that selection arising from social interactions between parents and offspring may underlie signal evolution. American coot babies are among the most ornamented offspring found in nature, sporting vividly orange-red natal plumage, a bright red beak, and other red parts around the face and pate. Previous plumage manipulation experiments showed that ornamented plumage is favored by strong parental choice for chicks with more extreme ornamentation but left unresolved the question as to why parents show the preference. Here we explore natural patterns of variation in coot chick plumage color, both within and between families, to understand the context of parental preference and to determine whose fitness interests are served by the ornamentation. Conspecific brood parasitism is common in coots and brood parasitic chicks could manipulate hosts by tapping into parental choice for ornamented chicks. However, counter to expectation, parasitic chicks were duller (less red) than nonparasitic chicks. This pattern is explained by color variation within families: Chick coloration increases with position in the egg-laying order, but parasitic eggs are usually the first eggs a female lays. Maternal effects influence chick coloration, but coot females do not use this mechanism to benefit the chicks they lay as parasites. However, within families, chick coloration predicts whether chicks become “favorites” when parents begin control over food distribution, implicating a role for the chick ornamentation in the parental life-history strategy, perhaps as a reliable signal of a chick’s size or age.

scholarly journals Defences against brood parasites from a social immunity perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 374 (1769) ◽  
pp. 20180207 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. C. Cotter ◽  
D. Pincheira-Donoso ◽  
R. Thorogood
Keyword(s):  
Immune Responses ◽  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Inclusive Fitness ◽  
Social Immunity ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Brood Parasites ◽  
Structured Groups ◽  
Parasitic Interactions ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Multicellular Organisms

Parasitic interactions are so ubiquitous that all multicellular organisms have evolved a system of defences to reduce their costs, whether the parasites they encounter are the classic parasites which feed on the individual, or brood parasites which usurp parental care. Many parallels have been drawn between defences deployed against both types of parasite, but typically, while defences against classic parasites have been selected to protect survival, those against brood parasites have been selected to protect the parent's inclusive fitness, suggesting that the selection pressures they impose are fundamentally different. However, there is another class of defences against classic parasites that have specifically been selected to protect an individual's inclusive fitness, known as social immunity . Social immune responses include the anti-parasite defences typically provided for others in kin-structured groups, such as the antifungal secretions produced by termite workers to protect the brood. Defences against brood parasites, therefore, are more closely aligned with social immune responses. Much like social immunity, host defences against brood parasitism are employed by a donor (a parent) for the benefit of one or more recipients (typically kin), and as with social defences against classic parasites, defences have therefore evolved to protect the donor's inclusive fitness, not the survival or ultimately the fitness of individual recipients This can lead to severe conflicts between the different parties, whose interests are not always aligned. Here, we consider defences against brood parasitism in the light of social immunity, at different stages of parasite encounter, addressing where conflicts occur and how they might be resolved. We finish with considering how this approach could help us to address longstanding questions in our understanding of brood parasitism. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The coevolutionary biology of brood parasitism: from mechanism to pattern’.

scholarly journals Increase of clutch size triggers clutch destruction behaviour in common moorhens (Gallinula chloropus) during the incubation period

Behaviour ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 150 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Longwu Wang ◽  
Canchao Yang ◽  
Yu-Cheng Hsu ◽  
Anton Antonov ◽  
Arne Moksnes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Incubation Period ◽  
Clutch Size ◽  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Egg Recognition ◽  
Conspecific Brood Parasitism ◽  
Egg Discrimination ◽  
Incubation Stage ◽  
Egg Colour ◽  
Egg Destruction

Conspecific brood parasitism (CBP) is common in a variety of animal taxa, including birds. In coots (Fulica spp.), and the closely related moorhens (Gallinula spp.), such parasitism is especially common, and hosts experience considerable costs through increased chick competition soon after hatching. Hence, these birds have evolved egg recognition and rejection abilities, e.g., egg counting, burying the foreign eggs, assigning them suboptimal positions within the mixed clutch, or deserting parasitized clutches. For common moorhens (Gallinula chloropus) it has been shown that desertion of parasitized nests pays most at the early egg laying stage. Later on, the costs of desertion exceed the costs of brood parasitism and acceptance is favoured. Here we tested moorhen egg discrimination behaviour during the incubation stage when acceptance of foreign eggs is expected. Four treatments were applied: (1) single added non-mimetic pale blue egg, (2) single added non-mimetic white chicken egg, (3) four foreign conspecific eggs added to the clutch and (4) four foreign conspecific eggs exchanged for four host eggs. Moorhens responded by egg destruction (47%) only to the increased clutch size but not to foreign egg colour and size match. In three nests where egg destruction occurred, all the eggs in the mixed clutch were destroyed by pecking, in two other nests one of the foreign eggs were pecked, while two other nests were deserted. These results are puzzling since moorhens have been shown to possess refined egg recognition abilities. To our knowledge, such destruction of parasitized clutches by moorhens during incubation has not previously been reported. We suggest that after clutch completion, moorhens use increase in clutch size as a cue to determine if they have been parasitized, and some individuals choose to reject parasitic eggs by deserting or destroying the whole clutch.

Male relatedness, lekking behavior patterns, and the potential for kin selection in a Neotropical hummingbird

The Auk ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 136 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Clementina González ◽  
Juan Francisco Ornelas
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Kin Selection ◽  
Inclusive Fitness ◽  
Isolation By Distance ◽  
Behavior Patterns ◽  
Song Type ◽  
Selection Theory ◽  
Indirect Fitness ◽  
Fitness Benefits ◽  
Gain Access

AbstractSeveral models have been proposed to explain the evolution of leks, both in terms of direct or indirect fitness benefits, and in survival. According to kin selection theory, male skewed reproductive success leads unsuccessful males to join successful relatives to increase their inclusive fitness, because their genes would be transmitted indirectly to the next generation. Wedge-tailed Sabrewing (Campylopterus curvipennis) is a hummingbird species whose males congregate at leks, in which spatially clustered males sing a particular song with marked differences among neighboring males (song neighborhoods). The maintenance of song neighborhoods presumably depends on juvenile newcomers copying the song type of their neighbors when they establish within a lek, and their acceptance could be more likely if a relative has already settled down in a territory, which in turn could offer fitness benefits explained by kin selection theory. To investigate the potential for kin selection in this species, we genotyped 126 hummingbirds at 10 microsatellite loci and estimated pairwise relatedness among males at 6 leks and in 4 song neighborhoods within 1 focal lek. Within leks, most males were unrelated and only a few were relatives. Moreover, even though relatedness within leks was higher than between leks, it was not higher than 0, which is likely due to isolation by distance. Our results do not support the idea of kin selection as an important force acting on the formation of leks in this species. Additionally, we found no evidence for kin clustering within song neighborhoods, suggesting that juveniles attempting to settle in a lek have to learn the song of the neighborhood (regardless of their kinship) to gain access to territories.

Low host recognition tendency revealed by experimentally induced parasitic egg laying in the common goldeneye (Bucephala clangula)

2003 ◽  
Vol 81 (9) ◽  
pp. 1561-1565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannu Pöysä
Keyword(s):  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Kin Recognition ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Host Recognition ◽  
Conspecific Brood Parasitism ◽  
Bucephala Clangula ◽  
Nest Sites ◽  
Nest Boxes ◽  
The Common ◽  
Common Goldeneye

Host-parasite relatedness has been suggested to promote the evolution of conspecific brood parasitism, an alternative reproductive tactic pursued by females in several animal taxa. An essential prerequisite for relatedness to promote brood parasitism is accurate kin recognition, including the recognition of related hosts by parasites. I performed a field experiment to address the accuracy of host recognition by parasites in the common goldeneye (Bucephala clangula), a cavity-nesting duck. I studied whether parasites discriminate between experimental nests that did not have a host (i.e., new nest boxes that contained chicken eggs dyed to mimic the colour of common goldeneye eggs) and real nests that did have a host (i.e., active nests that progressed to incubation). Parasitic egg laying in the experimental nests was not constrained by the lack of contemporarily available nests that had a host; it was also not constrained by the lack of suitable and empty nest sites. There was no difference in the start of parasitic laying between the experimental and real nests. The experimental nests and real nests were equally parasitized. The findings suggest that host recognition by parasites is not sophisticated in the common goldeneye, questioning the possible function of accurate kin recognition in brood parasitism in this species.

scholarly journals Kin selection and polygyny: can relatedness lower the polygyny threshold?

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 140409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaute Grønstøl ◽  
Donald Blomqvist ◽  
Angela Pauliny ◽  
Richard H. Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Dna Fingerprinting ◽  
Kin Selection ◽  
Inclusive Fitness ◽  
Nest Defence ◽  
Natal Philopatry ◽  
Vanellus Vanellus ◽  
Indirect Fitness ◽  
Fitness Benefits ◽  
Breeding Resources

Resource polygyny incurs costs of having to share breeding resources for female breeders. When breeding with a relative, however, such costs may be lessened by indirect fitness benefits through kin selection, while benefits from mutualistic behaviour, such as communal defence, may increase. If so, females should be less resistant to sharing a territory with a related female than with a non-related one. We investigated whether kin selection may lower the threshold of breeding polygynously, predicting a closer relatedness between polygynous females breeding on the same territory than between females breeding on different territories. Northern lapwings, Vanellus vanellus , are suitable for testing this hypothesis as they are commonly polygynous, both sexes take part in nest defence, and the efficiency of nest defence increases with the number of defenders. Using an index of relatedness derived from DNA fingerprinting, we found that female lapwings that shared polygynous dyads were on average twice as closely related as were random females. Furthermore, relatedness did not correlate with distance between breeders, indicating that our findings cannot be explained by natal philopatry alone. Our results suggest that the polygyny threshold in lapwings may be lowered by inclusive fitness advantages of kin selection.

scholarly journals Fast and furious: host aggression modulates behaviour of brood parasites

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Václav Jelínek ◽  
Michal Šulc ◽  
Gabriela Štětková ◽  
Marcel Honza
Keyword(s):  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Nest Defence ◽  
Great Reed Warbler ◽  
Acrocephalus Arundinaceus ◽  
Brood Parasite ◽  
Cuculus Canorus ◽  
Common Cuckoo ◽  
Brood Parasites ◽  
The Common

ABSTRACTAvian brood parasites pose a serious threat for hosts, substantially reducing their fitness which selects for the evolution of host defences. A classic example of a host frontline defence is mobbing which frequently includes contact attacking of brood parasites. Here, we investigated how the nest defence of a very aggressive great reed warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) host influences the speed of egg-laying and egg-removing behaviour of its brood parasite – the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). We video-recorded 168 brood parasitic events at 102 active host nests and found that cuckoos avoided host mobbing in only 62% of cases. If hosts spotted the cuckoo at their nests, they almost always attacked it (in 91 of 104 cases), however, such attacks only rarely and temporarily prevented cuckoos from parasitizing (11 additional cases). When attacked, cuckoos parasitized host nests significantly faster and left them immediately. However, when not attacked, cuckoos frequently stayed at or near the nest suggesting that host aggression, rather than the risk of being spotted, influences the speed of brood parasitism in this species. Further, we found that cuckoos performed egg-removing behaviour in all parasitic events without regard to host aggression. As a result, cuckoos removed at least one egg during all brood parasitism events except those when an egg slipped from their beaks and fell back into the nest (in 9 of 73 cases). This indicates that egg-removing behaviour is not costly for the common cuckoo and is an essential part of its parasitism strategy, widening understanding of this currently unexplained behaviour.

scholarly journals Kin selection in den sharing develops under limited availability of tree hollows for a forest marsupial

2011 ◽  
Vol 278 (1719) ◽  
pp. 2768-2776 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam C. Banks ◽  
David B. Lindenmayer ◽  
Lachlan McBurney ◽  
David Blair ◽  
Emma J. Knight ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Kin Selection ◽  
Resource Sharing ◽  
Resource Competition ◽  
Inclusive Fitness ◽  
Pathogen Transmission ◽  
Tree Hollows ◽  
Hollow Trees ◽  
Resource Decline ◽  
Fitness Benefits ◽  
Hollow Tree

Animal social behaviour is not static with regard to environmental change. Flexibility in cooperative resource use may be an important response to resource decline, mediating the impacts of resource availability on fitness and demography. In forest ecosystems, hollow trees are key den resources for many species, but are declining worldwide owing to forestry. Altered patterns of den sharing may mediate the effects of the decline of this resource. We studied den-sharing interactions among hollow-dependent Australian mountain brushtail possums to investigate how spatial variation in hollow tree availability affects resource sharing and kin selection. Under reduced den availability, individuals used fewer dens and shared them less often. This suggests increased territoriality in the presence of resource competition. Further, there was a switch from kin avoidance to kin preference with decreasing hollow tree availability. This was driven primarily by a change in den sharing among siblings. The inclusive fitness benefits of den sharing with kin are likely to increase under resource-limiting conditions, but are potentially outweighed by the benefits of associating with non-relatives (avoidance of inbreeding or pathogen transmission) where dens are abundant. We discuss how predictions from social evolutionary theory can contribute to understanding animal responses to landscape change.

scholarly journals The brood parasite's guide to inclusive fitness theory

2019 ◽  
Vol 374 (1769) ◽  
pp. 20180198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ros Gloag ◽  
Madeleine Beekman
Keyword(s):  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Social Behaviour ◽  
Inclusive Fitness ◽  
Alloparental Care ◽  
Brood Parasite ◽  
Brood Parasites ◽  
Inclusive Fitness Theory ◽  
Kin Structure ◽  
Host Evolution ◽  
Reproductive Tactic

Hamilton's theory of inclusive fitness provides a framework for understanding the evolution of social behaviour between kin, including parental and alloparental care. Brood parasitism is a reproductive tactic in which parasites exploit the care of other individuals of the same species (conspecific parasitism) or different species (interspecific parasitism) to rear their brood. Here, drawing from examples in birds and social insects, we identify two insights into brood parasitism that stem from inclusive fitness theory. First, the kin structure within nests, or between neighbouring nests, can create a niche space favouring the evolution of conspecific parasitism. For example, low average relatedness within social insect nests can increase selection for reproductive cheats. Likewise, high average relatedness between adjacent nests of some birds can increase a female's tolerance of parasitism by her neighbour. Second, intrabrood conflict will be high in parasitized broods, from the perspective of both parasite and host young, relative to unparasitized broods. We also discuss offspring recognition by hosts as an example of discrimination in a kin-selected social behaviour. We conclude that the inclusive fitness framework is instructive for understanding aspects of brood parasite and host evolution. In turn, brood parasites present some unique opportunities to test the predictions of inclusive fitness theory.This article is part of the theme issue ‘The coevolutionary biology of brood parasitism: from mechanism to pattern’.

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