<b>Feeding cuckoo nestlings reduces host defence against adult cuckoos</b>
<p dir="ltr">Sifangtuozi Farm (46°00′–46°22ʹ N, 123°46ʹ–123°57ʹ E) is located in Jilin Province, Northeast China. Reeds are abundant in farm ridges, ditches, and ponds around the farm. These areas have become high-quality breeding grounds for the ORW and large numbers of ORW migrate...
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| مؤلفون آخرون: | , |
| منشور في: |
2025
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| الملخص: | <p dir="ltr">Sifangtuozi Farm (46°00′–46°22ʹ N, 123°46ʹ–123°57ʹ E) is located in Jilin Province, Northeast China. Reeds are abundant in farm ridges, ditches, and ponds around the farm. These areas have become high-quality breeding grounds for the ORW and large numbers of ORW migrate to the reeds every year during the breeding season (from late May to early August) (for more details, see Trnka et al. 2023). ORW is a regular host of the CC in Asia and has evolved the ability to recognize and reject cuckoo eggs (Lotem et al. 1995). It is one of the most dominant hosts in northern China, with parasitism rates of 34.3%–65.5% (Li et al. 2015; Yang et al. 2014, 2016, 2017; Wang et al. 2020, 2021, 2022).</p><p dir="ltr">Avian brood parasites lay eggs in host nests and leave the host to feed their nestlings, thus passing on the cost of reproduction of raising the offspring to the host, which would drive the evolution of host defensive strategies. However, it remains unclear whether hosts that are successfully parasitized adjust their level of defensiveness against parasites as a result of feeding the parasite nestlings. To investigate the effect of parasitism on host defensiveness, rufous and grey common cuckoo (<i>Cuculus canorus</i>) dummies were used to evaluate the behavioral responses of Oriental reed warbler (<i>Acrocephalus orientalis</i>) hosts, namely those feeding own nestlings and those feeding cuckoo nestlings during the nestling period. Our data show that Oriental reed warblers feeding cuckoo nestlings do not attack cuckoo dummies (rufous and grey dummies), However, 40% (4/10) of Oriental reed warblers who fed host own nestlings attacked the grey cuckoo dummy and 25% (3/12) attacked the rufous cuckoo dummy. Therefore, our results suggest that compared with Oriental reed warblers who fed own nestlings, the Oriental reed warblers significantly reduce defensive attack against common cuckoos when they are feeding cuckoo nestlings. It is possible that the feeding Oriental reed warbler may have imprinted on the cuckoo nestlings, thus reducing the level of defensiveness against adult cuckoos. Future studies should investigate whether hosts that feed cuckoo nestlings do not attack adult cuckoos also do the same in the second and future breeding attempts.</p> |
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