Repeated Presentations of the Common Cuckoo Increase Nest Defense by the Eurasian Reed Warbler But Do not Induce It to Make Recognition Errors

The Condor ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 112 (4) ◽  
pp. 763-769 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslav Čapek ◽  
Milica Požgayová ◽  
Petr Procházka ◽  
Marcel Honza
Keyword(s):  
Nest Defense ◽  
Reed Warbler ◽  
Common Cuckoo ◽  
The Common ◽  
Recognition Errors

scholarly journals Heterospecific alarm-call recognition in two warbler hosts of common cuckoos

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 1149-1157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiangping Yu ◽  
Hailin Lu ◽  
Wei Sun ◽  
Wei Liang ◽  
Haitao Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alarm Call ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Reed Warbler ◽  
Cuculus Canorus ◽  
Common Cuckoo ◽  
Playback Experiments ◽  
Call Recognition ◽  
Accipiter Nisus ◽  
Main Host ◽  
The Common

Abstract Species facing similar selection pressures should recognize heterospecific alarm signals. However, no study has so far examined heterospecific alarm-call recognition in response to parasitism by cuckoos. In this study, we tested whether two sympatric host species of the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus, Oriental reed warbler Acrocephalus orientalis (ORW, main host), and black-browed reed warbler Acrocephalus bistrigiceps (BRW, rare host), could recognize each other’s alarm calls in response to cuckoos. Dummies of common cuckoo (parasite) and Eurasian sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus (predator) were used to induce and record alarm calls of the two warbler species, respectively. In the conspecific alarm-call playback experiments, ORW responded more strongly to cuckoo alarm calls than to sparrowhawk alarm calls, while BRW responded less strongly to cuckoo alarm calls than to sparrowhawk alarm calls. In the heterospecific alarm-call playback experiments, both ORW and BRW responded less strongly to cuckoo alarm calls than sparrowhawk alarm calls. BRW seemed to learn the association between parasite-related alarm calls of the ORW and the cuckoo by observing the process of ORW attacking cuckoos. In contrast, alarm calls of BRW to cuckoos were rarely recorded in most cases. BRW with low parasite pressure still developed recognition of heterospecific parasite-related alarm call. Unintended receivers in the same community should recognize heterospecific alarm calls precisely to extract valuable information.

The common cuckoo Cuculus canorus is not locally adapted to its reed warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus host

2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 314-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. AVILÉS ◽  
J. R. VIKAN ◽  
F. FOSSØY ◽  
A. ANTONOV ◽  
A. MOKSNES ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reed Warbler ◽  
Cuculus Canorus ◽  
Common Cuckoo ◽  
Acrocephalus Scirpaceus ◽  
The Common

ADAPTATIONS BY GREAT REED WARBLERS TO BROOD PARASITISM: A COMPARISON OF POPULATIONS IN SYMPATRY AND ALLOPATRY WITH THE COMMON CUCKOO

Behaviour ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 139 (10) ◽  
pp. 1313-1329 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Rejection Rate ◽  
Host Population ◽  
Greek Population ◽  
Great Reed Warbler ◽  
Reed Warbler ◽  
Common Cuckoo ◽  
Egg Colour ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
The Common

AbstractEgg rejection behaviour, as an antiparasite defence against brood parasitism was compared in two great reed warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus populations. In central Hungary the host population lives in sympatry with the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus, and it is heavily parasitised (ca 66%). In central Greece the great reed warbler occurs in allopatry with the cuckoo, so it is not parasitised at all. Experimental parasitism with poorly mimetic (often called 'non-mimetic') artificial cuckoo eggs revealed a 100% rejection rate towards the foreign eggs in the Greek population, but the Hungarian hosts accepted 29.4% and rejected 70.6% of the model cuckoo eggs. No other rejection type than ejection was observed. The significantly higher level of rejection in Greece than in Hungary suggests that the Greek great reed warbler population is an abandoned host population of the cuckoo, which kept its egg recognition ability. A computer-based image analysis of host's clutches revealed that interclutch variation in egg colour was greater than intraclutch variation in the Hungarian population, but not in the Greek population. Spottedness of eggs were similar in both populations. Generally, a tendency for a higher interclutch variation was found in Hungary. Intraclutch variation was more similar in the two populations, but for the colour variables it showed a lower value in Hungary than in Greece. The heavy cuckoo parasitism in Hungary is suggested to be the main cause for the increased interclutch variation in relation to intraclutch variation in egg appearance among great reed warbler clutches. The high interclutch variation reduces the chance that the parasite egg's appearance matches that of the hosts', which facilitates hosts' egg discrimination.

Great Reed Warbler singing behavior and conspicuous song structures are not nest-location cues for the Common Cuckoo

2017 ◽  
Vol 158 (4) ◽  
pp. 925-933 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslav Capek ◽  
Tereza Petrusková ◽  
Zuzana Šebelíková ◽  
Jesús Campos Serrano ◽  
Petr Procházka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Great Reed Warbler ◽  
Reed Warbler ◽  
Common Cuckoo ◽  
Nest Location ◽  
Singing Behavior ◽  
The Common

scholarly journals A host-race of the cuckoo Cuculus canorus with nestlings attuned to the parental alarm calls of the host species

2005 ◽  
Vol 273 (1587) ◽  
pp. 693-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.B Davies ◽  
J.R Madden ◽  
S.H.M Butchart ◽  
J Rutila
Keyword(s):  
Foster Parents ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Specific Response ◽  
Host Race ◽  
Reed Warbler ◽  
Common Cuckoo ◽  
Playback Experiments ◽  
Maternal Control ◽  
Host Races ◽  
The Common

The common cuckoo has several host-specific races, each with a distinctive egg that tends to match its host's eggs. Here, we show that the host-race specializing on reed warblers also has a host-specific nestling adaptation. In playback experiments, the nestling cuckoos responded specifically to the reed warbler's distinctive ‘churr’ alarm (given when a predator is near the nest), by reducing begging calls (likely to betray their location) and by displaying their orange-red gape (a preparation for defence). When reed warbler-cuckoos were cross-fostered and raised by two other regular cuckoo hosts (robins or dunnocks), they did not respond to the different alarms of these new foster-parents. Instead, they retained a specific response to reed warbler alarms but, remarkably, increased both calling and gaping. This suggests innate pre-tuning to reed warbler alarms, but with exposure necessary for development of the normal silent gaping response. By contrast, cuckoo chicks of another host-race specializing on redstarts showed no response to either redstart or reed warbler alarms. If host-races are restricted to female cuckoo lineages, then chick-tuning in reed warbler-cuckoos must be under maternal control. Alternatively, some host-races might be cryptic species, not revealed by the neutral genetic markers studied so far.

scholarly journals Experimental evidence for chick discrimination without recognition in a brood parasite host

2006 ◽  
Vol 274 (1608) ◽  
pp. 373-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomáš Grim
Keyword(s):  
Host Response ◽  
Brood Parasite ◽  
Cuculus Canorus ◽  
Common Cuckoo ◽  
Arms Races ◽  
Acrocephalus Scirpaceus ◽  
Cuckoo Chick ◽  
The Common ◽  
Recognition Errors ◽  
Host Parasite

Recognition is considered a critical basis for discriminatory behaviours in animals. Theoretically, recognition and discrimination of parasitic chicks are not predicted to evolve in hosts of brood parasitic birds that evict nest-mates. Yet, an earlier study showed that host reed warblers ( Acrocephalus scirpaceus ) of an evicting parasite, the common cuckoo ( Cuculus canorus ), can avoid the costs of prolonged care for unrelated young by deserting the cuckoo chick before it fledges. Desertion was not based on specific recognition of the parasite because hosts accept any chick cross-fostered into their nests. Thus, the mechanism of this adaptive host response remains enigmatic. Here, I show experimentally that the cue triggering this ‘discrimination without recognition’ behaviour is the duration of parental care. Neither the intensity of brood care nor the presence of a single-chick in the nest could explain desertions. Hosts responded similarly to foreign chicks, whether heterospecific or experimental conspecifics. The proposed mechanism of discrimination strikingly differs from those found in other parasite–host systems because hosts do not need an internal recognition template of the parasite's appearance to effectively discriminate. Thus, host defences against parasitic chicks may be based upon mechanisms qualitatively different from those operating against parasitic eggs. I also demonstrate that this discriminatory mechanism is non-costly in terms of recognition errors. Comparative data strongly suggest that parasites cannot counter-evolve any adaptation to mitigate effects of this host defence. These findings have crucial implications for the process and end-result of host–parasite arms races and our understanding of the cognitive basis of discriminatory mechanisms in general.

scholarly journals Factors Affecting Reed Warbler Risk of Brood Parasitism by the Common Cuckoo

The Auk ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 118 (2) ◽  
pp. 534-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice L. Clarke ◽  
Ingar J. Øien ◽  
Marcel Honza ◽  
Arne Moksnes ◽  
Eivin RØskaft
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Multiple Logistic Regression Analysis ◽  
Reed Warbler ◽  
Common Cuckoo ◽  
Host Nest ◽  
Nest Parasitism ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Direct View ◽  
The Common

Abstract In this study we conducted a multiple logistic regression analysis of factors hypothesized to influence the risk of Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) brood parasitism by the Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) on study sites in the south-eastern part of the Czech Republic. We collected data from Common Cuckoo nesting sites surrounding two fishponds. Our logistic regression models were based on the dichotomous dependent variable, parasitism of the Reed Warbler nest, and seven independent variables. Our first model used all data available across sites and years and resulted in a final model in which the only significant contributor was the independent variable “cuckoo view,” the view of host nests from the cuckoo's vantage point in a tree. A second model was developed using data limited to sites and years with the largest sample sizes and expected to yield the most reliable results. That model resulted in three significant contributors: site, cuckoo view, and neighborhood view. In both data sets, the odds of nest parasitism were shown to increase as the view of the host nest became more direct. However, a direct view of the focal nest raised the risk of parasitism to a much greater degree than did a direct view of the neighborhood of nests. Our results provide support for a nest-exposure hypothesis of brood parasitism risk. Although our models have identified nest exposure to be the best predictor of nest parasitism in this system, work remains to unravel the potentially complex relationship among Common Cuckoos, habitat structure, and Reed Warbler hosts.

Cuckoo chicks evicting their nest mates: coincidental observations by Edward Jenner in England and Antoine Joseph Lottinger in France

2011 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 220-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Spencer G. Sealy ◽  
Mélanie F. Guigueno
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Cuculus Canorus ◽  
Common Cuckoo ◽  
Cuckoo Chick ◽  
The Common ◽  
Made In ◽  
Royal Society Of London

For centuries, naturalists were aware that soon after hatching the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) chick became the sole occupant of the fosterer's nest. Most naturalists thought the adult cuckoo returned to the nest and removed or ate the fosterer's eggs and young, or the cuckoo chick crowded its nest mates out of the nest. Edward Jenner published the first description of cuckoo chicks evicting eggs and young over the side of the nest. Jenner's observations, made in England in 1786 and 1787, were published by the Royal Society of London in 1788. Four years before Jenner's observations, in 1782, Antoine Joseph Lottinger recorded eviction behaviour in France and published his observations in Histoire du coucou d'Europe, in 1795. The importance of Lottinger's and Jenner's observations is considered together.

scholarly journals Host Recognition of Brood Parasites: Implications for Methodology in Studies of Enemy Recognition

The Auk ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 122 (2) ◽  
pp. 530-543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomáš Grim
Keyword(s):  
Traditional Approach ◽  
Columba Livia ◽  
Host Recognition ◽  
Brood Parasite ◽  
Common Cuckoo ◽  
Brood Parasites ◽  
Accurate Picture ◽  
Rock Pigeon ◽  
The Common ◽  
Enemy Recognition

AbstractVarious studies have shown that experiments on nest defense and enemy recognition (e.g. recognition of adult brood parasites) can be confounded by many factors. However, no study has described a confounding effect of control dummy type. Here, I show experimentally that the choice of control dummy may influence the results of an experiment and lead to erroneous conclusions. I tested recognition abilities of the Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla), currently a host rarely used by the Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). Blackcaps responded very differently to two kinds of control dummies: they ignored the Eurasian Blackbird (Turdus merula) dummy, but attacked the Rock Pigeon (Columba livia) dummy as frequently as they attacked the Common Cuckoo. The differing results may be explained by the fact that the Rock Pigeon is more similar to the Common Cuckoo than the Eurasian Blackbird is, and consequently elicited more aggressive behavior than the latter. Thus, absence of discrimination in enemy-recognition studies may reflect a methodological artifact resulting from varying abilities of particular hosts to discriminate along a continuum of recognition cues. This result has serious methodological implications for further research on enemy recognition and aggression in general: a control dummy should not be too similar to the dummy brood parasite; otherwise, the chance of detecting existing recognition abilities is low. Further, I argue that coevolution only increases pre-existing aggression in the particular host species. Therefore, increment analysis (assessing changes in host antiparasitic responses during the nesting cycle while controlling for background aggression to control dummies) provides a more accurate picture of hosts' recognition abilities than the traditional approach (when the total level of antiparasitic response is analyzed).

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