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The Evolution of Nest Sharing and Nest Mate Killing Strategies in Brood Parasites

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Book cover Avian Brood Parasitism

Part of the book series: Fascinating Life Sciences ((FLS))

Abstract

Chicks of avian brood parasites either cohabit with host nestlings (e.g., cowbirds, non-evictor cuckoos) or eventually eliminate their potential competitors and are raised as the sole inhabitants of the foster parents’ nest. This latter phenomenon, termed as direct killing, involves the young brood parasitic chick evicting all other eggs or hatchlings from the nest (e.g., evictor cuckoos) or killing their nest mates with their bill hook (e.g., honeyguides) and monopolize all food resources delivered by host parents. We overview the types of variability in parasite chick strategies toward nest mates and also discuss the potential reasons why competition vs. eviction behaviors have evolved in different parasitic lineages. We explore the possibility that one of the key factors for the evolution of nest mate acceptance versus direct killing was the virulence of the parasitic chick in relation to host nestling (competitive ability) and the ability to manipulate provisioning by the host parents. For extensive life history studies of the conflict between unrelated hosts and brood parasitic nestlings, we suggest that additional avenues for future research should explore and understand why and how evolutionary adaptations of brood parasitic nestlings have evolved.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Manolo Soler for his invitation to contribute this chapter. We also thank Ross Gloag, Jarkko Rutila, and Manolo Soler for useful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. For financial support, we thank the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH, NN118194 to CM). This study was also supported by the Human Frontier Science Program and the National Science Foundation (#1456524 and #1456612 to MEH and MIML).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MTA-ELTE-MTM Ecology Research Group, A Joint Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, The Biological Institute of the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary

    Csaba Moskát

  2. Department of Animal Biology, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA

    Mark E. Hauber & Matthew I. M. Louder

  3. Department of Psychology, Hunter College and the Graduate Center, The City University of New York, New York, NY, USA

    Matthew I. M. Louder

  4. Department of Biology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA

    Matthew I. M. Louder

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  1. Csaba Moskát
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  2. Mark E. Hauber
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  3. Matthew I. M. Louder
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Correspondence to Csaba Moskát .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Zoología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain

    Manuel Soler

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Moskát, C., Hauber, M.E., Louder, M.I.M. (2017). The Evolution of Nest Sharing and Nest Mate Killing Strategies in Brood Parasites. In: Soler, M. (eds) Avian Brood Parasitism. Fascinating Life Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73138-4_26

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