Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Eadie ◽  
Mark L. Mallory ◽  
H. G. Lumsden
2010 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 662-671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antti Paasivaara ◽  
Jarkko Rutila ◽  
Hannu Pöysä ◽  
Pentti Runko

2003 ◽  
Vol 81 (9) ◽  
pp. 1561-1565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannu Pöysä

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.


1995 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Eadie ◽  
Mark L. Mallory ◽  
H. G. Lumsden

1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 475-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie A. Beattie ◽  
Thomas D. Nudds

Two hypotheses have been proposed to account for disjunct habitat occupancy between breeding Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) ducks and fish: competition and predator avoidance. Both experimental and correlational evidence suggest that competition for food explains why goldeneyes and their broods tend to use habitats in which numbers of fish are low. However, rejection of the predator avoidance hypothesis has been based on correlational evidence only. In experiments, we tested the hypothesis that avoidance of predatory fish affects habitat use by goldeneyes by examining the responses of goldeneye ducklings (hatched in captivity from eggs collected in the wild) to the presence of predatory and nonpredatory fish models in an aquatic arena. Although response behaviours generally decreased with age, this was not the result of habituation to the testing procedure; responses of the oldest ducklings (9 weeks old) were not different from those of ducklings of similar age who had not been previously exposed to the models. When the presence of the models affected duckling behaviour, group cohesion increased and diving activity decreased, but the intensity of these responses did not differ toward models of predatory and nonpredatory fish. Furthermore, measurements of duckling movements did not indicate that ducklings were actively avoiding the models. Our experimental evidence indicates that avoidance of predatory fish does not appear to be an important determinant of habitat use by goldeneye ducklings.


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