Abstract
Ecosystems consisting of multiple cuckoo species and their hosts constitute interesting examples of complex coevolutionary interactions. Competition among cuckoo species may increase the intensity of selection for adaptation to specialization but also for specific host species to evolve particular defenses against a specific species of cuckoo. Such specialization is further exacerbated by the evolution of different color morphs of the plumage of cuckoos but also by the evolution of different color morphs of cuckoo eggs. Here we review host use by sympatric brood parasitic cuckoos and coevolution in such communities of cuckoos and hosts in China. There was intense competition and overlap in host use among cuckoo species in China, and competitive exclusion may play an important role in the evolution of these patterns. In addition, parasitic cuckoos of median body size showed a particularly strong flexibility in exploiting hosts differing in body sizes because cuckoos of intermediate body size are particularly widespread. We hypothesize that such sympatric assemblages of multiple species of cuckoo may serve as model systems for the study of frequency-dependent selection and its evolutionary consequences.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Baker ECS (1942) Cuckoo problems. Witherby, London
Bán M, Moskát C, Barta Z, Hauber ME (2013) Simultaneous viewing of own and parasitic eggs is not required for egg rejection by a cuckoo host. Behav Ecol 24:1014–1021
Brooker MG, Brooker LC (1989) Cuckoo hosts in Australia. Aust Zool Rev 2:1–67
Davies NB (2000) Cuckoos, cowbirds and other cheats. T & AD Poyser, London
Erritzøe J, Mann CF, Brammer FP, Fuller RA (2012) Cuckoos of the world. Christopher Helm, London
Feeney WE, Welbergen JA, Langmore NE (2012) The frontline of avian brood parasite–host coevolution. Anim Behav 84:3–12
Fossøy F, Antonov A, Moksnes A, Røskaft E, Vikan JR, Møller AP, Shykoff JA, Stokke BG (2011) Genetic differentiation among sympatric cuckoo host races: males matter. Proc R Soc Lond B 278:1639–1645
Fossøy F, Sorenson MD, Liang W, Ekrem T, Moksnes A, Møller AP, Rutila J, Røskaft E, Takasu F, Yang C, Stokke BG (2016) Ancient origin and maternal inheritance of blue cuckoo eggs. Nat Commun 7:10272
Friedmann H (1928) Social parasitism in birds. Q Rev Biol 3:554–569
Gibbs HL, Sorenson MD, Marchetti K, Brooke M de L, Davies NB, Nakamura H (2000) Genetic evidence for female host-specific races of the common cuckoo. Nature 407:183–186
Grim T (2006) The evolution of nestling discrimination by hosts of parasitic birds: why is rejection so rare? Evol Ecol Res 8:785–802
Grim T (2011) Ejecting chick cheats: a changing paradigm? Front Zool 8:14
Hauber ME, Sherman PW (2001) Self-referent phenotype matching: theoretical considerations and empirical evidence. Trends Neurosci 24:609–616
Higuchi H (1989) Responses of the bush warbler Cettia diphone to artificial eggs of Cuculus cuckoos in Japan. Ibis 131:94–98
Hu Y, Wang X, Chang H, Sun Y (2013) Brood parasitism on Elliot’s laughingthrush by large hawk cuckoo. Chin J Zool 48:292–293
Jetz W, Thomas GH, Joy JB, Hartmann K, Mooers AO (2012) The global diversity of birds in space and time. Nature 491:444–448
Kilner RM, Langmore NE (2011) Cuckoos versus hosts in insects and birds: adaptations, counter-adaptations and outcomes. Biol Rev 86:836–852
Lack DL (1971) Ecological isolation in birds. Blackwell, London
Langmore NE, Hunt S, Kilner RM (2003) Escalation of a coevolutionary arms race through host ejection of brood parasitic young. Nature 422:157–160
Li D, Wei H, Zhang Z, Liang W, Stokke BG (2015) Oriental reed warbler (Acrocephalus orientalis) nest defence behaviour towards brood parasites and nest predators. Behaviour 152:1601–1621
Li D, Zhang Z, Grim T, Liang W, Stokke BG (2016) Explaining variation in brood parasitism rates between potential host species with similar habitat requirements. Evol Ecol 30:905–923
Liang W, Møller AP (2015) Hawk mimicry in cuckoos and anti-parasitic aggressive behavior of barn swallows in Denmark and China. J Avian Biol 46:216–223
Liang W, Yang C, Antonov A, Fossøy F, Stokke BG, Moksnes A, Røskaft E, Shykoff JA, Møller AP, Takasu F (2012) Sex roles in egg recognition and egg polymorphism in avian brood parasitism. Behav Ecol 23:397–402
Liang W, Møller AP, Stokke BG, Yang C, Kovařík P, Wang H, Yao C-T, Ding P, Lu X, Moksnes A, Røskaft E, Grim T (2016) Geographic variation in egg ejection rate by great tits across 2 continents. Behav Ecol 27:1405–1412
Lotem A (1993) Learning to recognize nestling is maladaptive for cuckoo Cuculus canorus hosts. Nature 362:743–744
MacKinnon J, Phillipps K (1999) A field guide to the birds of China. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Makatsch W (1937) Der Brutparasitismus der Kuckuckvögel. Quelle & Meyer, Leipzig
Moksnes A, Røskaft E (1995) Egg-morphs and host preference in the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus: an analysis of cuckoo and host eggs from European museum collections. J Zool 236:625–648
Moksnes A, Røskaft E, Braa AT, Korsnes L, Lampe HM, Pedersen HC (1991) Behavioural responses of potential hosts towards artificial cuckoo eggs and dummies. Behaviour 116:64–89
Møller AP, Antonov A, Stokke BG, Fossøy F, Moksnes A, Røskaft E, Takasu F (2011) Isolation by time and habitat and coexistence of distinct host races of the common cuckoo. J Evol Biol 24:676–684
Moskát C, Bán M, Hauber ME (2014) Naïve hosts of avian brood parasites accept foreign eggs, whereas older hosts fine-tune foreign egg discrimination during laying. Front Zool 11:45
Payne RB (2005) The cuckoos. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Røskaft E, Liang W, Stokke BG (2012) Avian brood parasitism–a growing research area in behavioral ecology. Chin Birds 3:243–244
Rothstein SI (1975) Mechanisms of avian egg-recognition: do birds know their own eggs? Anim Behav 23:269–278
Rothstein SI (1982) Mechanisms of avian egg recognition: which egg parameters elicit responses by rejecter species? Behav Ecol Sociobiol 11:229–239
Rothstein SI (1990) A model system for coevolution: avian brood parasitism. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 21:481–508
Rothstein SI, Robinson SK (1998) Parasitic birds and their hosts: studies in coevolution. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Soler M (2014) Long-term coevolution between avian brood parasites and their hosts. Biol Rev 89:688–704
Soler JJ, Soler M, Pérez-Contreras T, Aragón S, Møller AP (1999) Antagonistic antiparasite defenses: nest defense and egg rejection in the magpie host of the great spotted cuckoo. Behav Ecol 10:707–713
Soler M, Ruiz-Castellano C, Carra LG, Ontanilla J, Martín-Galvez D (2013) Do first-time breeding females imprint on their own eggs? Proc R Soc B 280:20122518
Southern HN (1954) Mimicry in the cuckoo eggs. In: Huxley JS, Hardy AC, Ford EB (eds) Evolution as a process. George Allen & Unwin, London, pp 219–232
Spottiswoode CN, Stryjewski KF, Quader S, Colebrook-Robjent JFR, Sorenson MD (2011) Ancient host specificity within a single species of brood parasitic bird. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 108:17738
Stevens M, Troscianko J, Spottiswoode CN (2013) Repeated targeting of the same hosts by a brood parasite compromises host egg rejection. Nat Commun 4:2475
Su T, Yang C, Liang G, Ding C, Liang W (2016) Association between nest defense and egg rejection behavior of brown-breasted bulbuls (Pycnonotus xanthorrhous). Auk 133:231–235
Takasu F (1998) Why do all host species not show defense against avian brood parasitism: evolutionary lag or equilibrium? Am Nat 151:193–205
Wyllie I (1981) The cuckoo. Batsford, London
Xia C, Liang W, Carey GJ, Zhang Y (2016) Song characteristics of oriental cuckoo Cuculus optatus and Himalayan cuckoo Cuculus saturatus and implications for distribution and taxonomy. Zool Stud 55:38
Yang C, Liang W, Cai Y, Shi S, Takasu F, Møller AP, Antonov A, Fossøy F, Moksnes A, Røskaft E, Stokke BG (2010) Coevolution in action: disruptive selection on egg colour in an avian brood parasite and its host. PLoS One 5:e10816
Yang C, Cai Y, Liang W (2011) Visual modeling reveals cryptic aspect in egg mimicry of Himalayan cuckoo (Cuculus saturatus) on its host Blyth’s leaf warbler (Phylloscopus reguloides). Zool Res 32:451–455
Yang C, Liang W, Antonov A, Cai Y, Stokke BG, Fossøy F, Moksnes A, Røskaft E (2012a) Diversity of parasitic cuckoos and their hosts in china. Chin Birds 3:9–32
Yang C, Cai Y, Liang W (2012b) Species identification of sympatric cuckoo nestlings in a multiple-cuckoo system, China. Chin Birds 3:108–112
Yang C, Li D, Wang L, Liang G, Zhang Z, Liang W (2014a) Geographic variation in parasitism rates of two sympatric cuckoo hosts in China. Zool Res 35:67–71
Yang C, Wang L, Cheng SJ, Hsu YC, Liang W, Møller AP (2014b) Nest defenses and egg recognition of yellow-bellied prinia against cuckoo parasitism. Naturwissenschaften 101:727–734
Yang C, Liu Y, Zeng L, Liang W (2014c) Egg color variation, but not egg rejection behavior, changes in a cuckoo host breeding in the absence of brood parasitism. Ecol Evol 4:2239–2246
Yang C, Møller AP, Røskaft E, Moksnes A, Liang W, Stokke BG (2014d) Reject the odd egg: egg recognition mechanisms in parrotbills. Behav Ecol 25:1320–1324
Yang C, Wang L, Cheng SJ, Hsu YC, Stokke BG, Røskaft E, Moksnes A, Liang W, Møller AP (2015a) Deficiency in egg rejection in a host species as a response to the absence of brood parasitism. Behav Ecol 26:406–415
Yang C, Wang L, Chen M, Liang W, Møller AP (2015b) Nestling recognition in red-rumped and barn swallows. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 69:1–6
Yang C, Su T, Liang W, Møller AP (2015c) Coevolution between the large hawk-cuckoo (Cuculus sparverioides) and its two sympatric Leiothrichidae hosts: evidence for recent expansion and switch in host use? Biol J Linn Soc 115:919–926
Yang C, Li Z, Zhang Y, Wang H, Liang W, Møller AP (2016a) Egg polymorphism and egg discrimination in the daurian redstart Phoenicurus auroreus, a host of the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus. Ornithol Sci 15:127–132
Yang C, Huang Q, Wang L, Jiang A, Stokke BG, Fossøy F, Tunheim OH, Røskaft E, Liang W, Møller AP (2016b) Plaintive cuckoos do not select tailorbird hosts that match the phenotypes of their own eggs. Behav Ecol 27:835–841
Yang C, Wang L, Liang W, Møller AP (2016c) Egg recognition as antiparasitism defence in hosts does not select for laying of matching eggs in parasitic cuckoos. Anim Behav 122:177–181
Yu J, Wang L, Xing X, Yang C, Ma J, Møller AP, Wang H, Liang W (2016) Barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) differentiate between common cuckoo and sparrowhawk in China: alarm calls convey information on threat. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 70:171–178
Yu J, Xing X, Jiang Y, Liang W, Wang H, Møller AP (2017) Alarm call-based discrimination between common cuckoo and Eurasian sparrowhawk in a Chinese population of great tits. Ethology 123:542–550
Zheng G (2011) A checklist on the classification and distribution of the birds of China, 2nd edn. Science Press, Beijing
Zheng G (2018) A checklist on the classification and distribution of the birds of China, 3rd edn. Science Press, Beijing
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank M. Soler, A. Moksnes, and C. Moskát for providing constructive comments and helpful suggestions. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 31272328, 31472013 and 31772453 to WL and 31672303 and 31260514 to CY,) and the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-13-0761).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Liang, W., Yang, C., Møller, A.P. (2017). High Diversity of Brood Parasites in China and Coevolution Between Cuckoos and Their Hosts. In: Soler, M. (eds) Avian Brood Parasitism. Fascinating Life Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73138-4_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73138-4_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-73137-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-73138-4
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)