Social parasitism as an alternative reproductive tactic in a cooperatively breeding cuckoo

Nature
Christina Riehl, Meghan J Strong

Abstract

Cooperatively nesting birds are vulnerable to social parasites that lay their eggs in host nests but provide no parental care1-4. Most previous research has focused on the co-evolutionary arms race between host defences and the parasites that attempt to circumvent them5-9, but it remains unclear why females sometimes cooperate and sometimes parasitize, and how parasitic tactics arise in cooperative systems10-12. Here we show that cooperative and parasitic reproductive strategies result in approximately equal fitness pay-offs in the greater ani (Crotophaga major), a long-lived tropical cuckoo, using an 11-year dataset and comprehensive genetic data that enable comparisons of the life-histories of individual females. We found that most females in the population nested cooperatively at the beginning of the breeding season; however, of those birds that had their first nests destroyed, a minority subsequently acted as reproductive parasites. The tendency to parasitize was highly repeatable, which indicates individual specialization. Across years, the fitness pay-offs of the two strategies were approximately equal: females who never parasitized (a 'pure cooperative' strategy) laid larger clutches and fledged more young from their own...Continue Reading

References

Dec 12, 2001·Nature·M Ahlund, M Andersson
Mar 26, 2003·The American Naturalist·Michael L G Loeb
Aug 19, 2008·The American Naturalist·M Andersson
Nov 12, 2010·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Christina Riehl
Feb 1, 1996·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·M R Gross
Nov 1, 2009·Molecular Ecology Resources·UNKNOWN Molecular Ecology Resources Primer Development ConsortiumLifeng Zhu
Oct 18, 2013·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Christina Riehl
Dec 15, 2015·The American Naturalist·Nicole M Baran, Hudson Kern Reeve
Jun 28, 2016·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Christina Riehl
Mar 1, 1989·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·David C Queller, Keith F Goodnight
Apr 13, 2018·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Christina Riehl, Meghan J Strong
Oct 3, 2018·Current Biology : CB·Jeremy FieldWilliam A Foster

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Citations

Mar 3, 2019·Nature·Andrew G Zink, John M Eadie

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
genotyping
PCRs
PCR

Software Mentioned

ArcMap
CERVUS
COANCESTRY

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