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Brood parasitism and quasi-parasitism in the European barn swallow Hirundo rustica rustica

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Abstract

We studied patterns of extra-pair maternity (EPM) in 245 nests (225 nests belonging to 120 females of known identity) of sexually promiscuous European barn swallows (Hirundo rustica rustica) over a 3-year period. At least one EPM nestling was identified in 54 nests (22.0 %), representing 5.7 % of a total of 1060 nestlings. Up to 28.3 % of all EPM nestlings resulted from quasi-parasitism (QP), whereby nest-attending males sired parasitic offspring. Nests of quasi-parasitic females were never in close proximity to the host nest. Our data thus indicate nonrandom QP patterns in our population suggesting that QP can be considered a third alternative reproductive strategy alongside extra-pair paternity (EPP) and intraspecific brood parasitism (IBP). Of several socioecological factors evaluated, only number of simultaneous egg-laying females in the population proved a good predictor for EPM occurrence. Whereas parasitic females produced more offspring per breeding attempt than was the population average, both QP and IBP affected host female reproductive output, being associated with a reduced number of her offspring produced from the nest. On the contrary, QP resulted in an increase in the number of offspring produced by nest-attending males, suggesting that males may benefit from cooperating with parasitic females at the expense of their social partners.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all of our field assistants. Kevin Roche, Rebecca J. Safran, Nicola Saino, and one anonymous reviewer provided valuable comments on the manuscript. This study would not have been possible without the collaboration of local farm owners, specifically the Kotrba family at Hamr farm, the Kraus family at Šaloun farm, the Pulec family, and the staff of the Obora Stables in Třeboň. This research was funded through project 146213 of the Grant Agency of Charles University (to AP) and project P506/12/2472 of the Czech Science Foundation (to TA).

Authorship

The project was designed by TA, JC, RM, and AP; data was collected by all authors; paternity and maternity analysis was conducted by JK, RM, and PM; TA and AP analyzed the data for this paper; TA, RM, and AP wrote the manuscript with contributions from all coauthors.

Ethical standards

All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. All protocols were noninvasive and adhered to the laws and guidelines of the Czech Republic (Czech Research Permit numbers 6628/2008-10001). All protocols were approved by the Animal Care and Use Committees at the Czech Academy of Sciences (041/2011), and Charles University in Prague (4789/2008-30).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Viničná 7, 128 44, Praha 2, Czech Republic

      Adéla Petrželková, Romana Michálková, Jana Albrechtová, Jakub Kreisinger, Pavel Munclinger, Martina Soudková, Oldřich Tomášek & Tomáš Albrecht

    2. Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., Květná 8, 603 65, Brno, Czech Republic

      Adéla Petrželková, Jana Albrechtová, Marcel Honza, Oldřich Tomášek & Tomáš Albrecht

    3. Bird Ringing Station, National Museum, Hornoměcholupská 34, 10200, Praha 10, Czech Republic

      Jaroslav Cepák

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    1. Adéla Petrželková
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    Correspondence to Tomáš Albrecht.

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    Communicated by M. Soler

    Adéla Petrželková and Romana Michálková contributed equally to this work.

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    Petrželková, A., Michálková, R., Albrechtová, J. et al. Brood parasitism and quasi-parasitism in the European barn swallow Hirundo rustica rustica . Behav Ecol Sociobiol 69, 1405–1414 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-015-1953-6

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