A novel method of rejection of brood parasitic eggs reduces parasitism intensity in a cowbird host

The hosts of brood parasitic birds are under strong selection pressure to recognize and remove foreign eggs from their nests, but parasite eggs may be too large to be grasped whole and too strong to be readily pierced by the host's bill. Such operating constraints on egg removal are proposed to...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	De Marsico, M.C., Gloag, R., Ursino, C.A., Reboreda, J.C.
Formato:	JOUR
Materias:	Brood parasitism Cowbird Egg rejection Host defence antiparasite defense brood parasitism clutch size egg rejection host preference passerine animal animal behavior article bird egg host parasite interaction physiology Animals Behavior, Animal Birds Eggs Host-Parasite Interactions
Acceso en línea:	http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_17449561_v9_n3_p_DeMarsico
Aporte de:	Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA) de Universidad de Buenos Aires

id	todo:paper_17449561_v9_n3_p_DeMarsico
record_format	dspace
spelling	todo:paper_17449561_v9_n3_p_DeMarsico2023-10-03T16:31:51Z A novel method of rejection of brood parasitic eggs reduces parasitism intensity in a cowbird host De Marsico, M.C. Gloag, R. Ursino, C.A. Reboreda, J.C. Brood parasitism Cowbird Egg rejection Host defence antiparasite defense brood parasitism clutch size egg rejection host preference passerine animal animal behavior article bird egg host parasite interaction physiology Animals Behavior, Animal Birds Eggs Host-Parasite Interactions The hosts of brood parasitic birds are under strong selection pressure to recognize and remove foreign eggs from their nests, but parasite eggs may be too large to be grasped whole and too strong to be readily pierced by the host's bill. Such operating constraints on egg removal are proposed to force some hosts to accept parasite eggs, as the costs of deserting parasitized clutches can outweigh the cost of rearing parasites. By fitting microcameras inside nests, we reveal that the Neotropical baywing (Agelaioides badius), a host of the screaming cowbird (Molothrus rufoaxillaris) and shiny cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis), instead circumvents such constraints by kicking parasite eggs out of the nest. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a passerine bird using its feet to remove objects from the nest. Kick-ejection was an all-or-nothing response. Baywings kick-ejected parasite eggs laid before their own first egg and, if heavily parasitized, they ejected entire clutches and began again in the same nest. Few baywings were able to rid their nests of every parasite egg, but their novel ejection method allowed them to reduce the median parasitism intensity by 75 per cent (from four to one cowbird eggs per nest), providing an effective anti-parasite defence. © 2013 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. JOUR info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ar http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_17449561_v9_n3_p_DeMarsico
institution	Universidad de Buenos Aires
institution_str	I-28
repository_str	R-134
collection	Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA)
topic	Brood parasitism Cowbird Egg rejection Host defence antiparasite defense brood parasitism clutch size egg rejection host preference passerine animal animal behavior article bird egg host parasite interaction physiology Animals Behavior, Animal Birds Eggs Host-Parasite Interactions
spellingShingle	Brood parasitism Cowbird Egg rejection Host defence antiparasite defense brood parasitism clutch size egg rejection host preference passerine animal animal behavior article bird egg host parasite interaction physiology Animals Behavior, Animal Birds Eggs Host-Parasite Interactions De Marsico, M.C. Gloag, R. Ursino, C.A. Reboreda, J.C. A novel method of rejection of brood parasitic eggs reduces parasitism intensity in a cowbird host
topic_facet	Brood parasitism Cowbird Egg rejection Host defence antiparasite defense brood parasitism clutch size egg rejection host preference passerine animal animal behavior article bird egg host parasite interaction physiology Animals Behavior, Animal Birds Eggs Host-Parasite Interactions
description	The hosts of brood parasitic birds are under strong selection pressure to recognize and remove foreign eggs from their nests, but parasite eggs may be too large to be grasped whole and too strong to be readily pierced by the host's bill. Such operating constraints on egg removal are proposed to force some hosts to accept parasite eggs, as the costs of deserting parasitized clutches can outweigh the cost of rearing parasites. By fitting microcameras inside nests, we reveal that the Neotropical baywing (Agelaioides badius), a host of the screaming cowbird (Molothrus rufoaxillaris) and shiny cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis), instead circumvents such constraints by kicking parasite eggs out of the nest. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a passerine bird using its feet to remove objects from the nest. Kick-ejection was an all-or-nothing response. Baywings kick-ejected parasite eggs laid before their own first egg and, if heavily parasitized, they ejected entire clutches and began again in the same nest. Few baywings were able to rid their nests of every parasite egg, but their novel ejection method allowed them to reduce the median parasitism intensity by 75 per cent (from four to one cowbird eggs per nest), providing an effective anti-parasite defence. © 2013 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society.
format	JOUR
author	De Marsico, M.C. Gloag, R. Ursino, C.A. Reboreda, J.C.
author_facet	De Marsico, M.C. Gloag, R. Ursino, C.A. Reboreda, J.C.
author_sort	De Marsico, M.C.
title	A novel method of rejection of brood parasitic eggs reduces parasitism intensity in a cowbird host
title_short	A novel method of rejection of brood parasitic eggs reduces parasitism intensity in a cowbird host
title_full	A novel method of rejection of brood parasitic eggs reduces parasitism intensity in a cowbird host
title_fullStr	A novel method of rejection of brood parasitic eggs reduces parasitism intensity in a cowbird host
title_full_unstemmed	A novel method of rejection of brood parasitic eggs reduces parasitism intensity in a cowbird host
title_sort	novel method of rejection of brood parasitic eggs reduces parasitism intensity in a cowbird host
url	http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_17449561_v9_n3_p_DeMarsico
work_keys_str_mv	AT demarsicomc anovelmethodofrejectionofbroodparasiticeggsreducesparasitismintensityinacowbirdhost AT gloagr anovelmethodofrejectionofbroodparasiticeggsreducesparasitismintensityinacowbirdhost AT ursinoca anovelmethodofrejectionofbroodparasiticeggsreducesparasitismintensityinacowbirdhost AT reboredajc anovelmethodofrejectionofbroodparasiticeggsreducesparasitismintensityinacowbirdhost AT demarsicomc novelmethodofrejectionofbroodparasiticeggsreducesparasitismintensityinacowbirdhost AT gloagr novelmethodofrejectionofbroodparasiticeggsreducesparasitismintensityinacowbirdhost AT ursinoca novelmethodofrejectionofbroodparasiticeggsreducesparasitismintensityinacowbirdhost AT reboredajc novelmethodofrejectionofbroodparasiticeggsreducesparasitismintensityinacowbirdhost
_version_	1807314852029399040

A novel method of rejection of brood parasitic eggs reduces parasitism intensity in a cowbird host

Ejemplares similares