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Post-ejection nest-desertion of common cuckoo hosts: a second defense mechanism or avoiding reduced reproductive success?

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Abstract

Hosts of the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), an avian brood parasite, develop antiparasite defense mechanisms to increase their reproductive success. Ejection of the parasite egg and desertion of the parasitized nest are the most typical adaptations in response to brood parasitism, but nest desertion may also occur in response to partial clutch reduction, independently from parasitism. Some great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) showed both mechanisms in the same incidence of cuckoo parasitism: in 18% of successful ejections of the parasite eggs, they deserted their nests. We studied if such cases of post-ejection nest-desertion are caused by brood parasitism or reduced clutch value. We experimentally parasitized clutches consisting of five or three host eggs with two painted conspecific eggs to mimic parasitic eggs, as multiple parasitism is frequent in the area. Although hosts ejected these parasitic eggs in both clutch categories (100% and 67% for the larger and smaller inital clutch sizes, respectively), we found that after manipulation, post-ejection nest-desertion frequently occurred at small (3-egg) clutches (40%), but rarely at large (5-egg) clutches (17%). The same phenomenon also occurred when unparasitized 3-egg clutches were reduced by two eggs, but not when 5-egg clutches were reduced in the same way. A logistic regression model revealed that only initial clutch size affected nest desertion of parasitized nests in our experiments. Therefore, we conclude that post-ejection nest-desertion is not a second antiparasite mechanism, which might serve as a redundant antiparasite defense, but a reaction to typically small and further decreased clutch size.

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Acknowledgments

The study was supported by the Office of Academy-supported Research Groups Affiliated with Universities and Other Institutions of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (to C.M.) and by the Groningen University Grant (to E.R. and M.B.). Timea Protovin, Michael G. Anderson, and István Zsoldos kindly helped in the fieldwork. We thank Hannah Dugdale (Groningen University, Netherlands/Sheffield University, UK) for her valuable comments on the manuscript. The Middle-Danube-Valley Inspectorate for Environmental Protection, Nature Conservation and Water Management provided permission for research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Animal Ecology Research Group, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, c/o Hungarian Natural History Museum, Ludovika ter 2., (Postal address: H-1431 Budapest P.O. Box 137, Hungary), Budapest, 1088, Hungary

    Csaba Moskát

  2. Animal Ecology Group, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, Haren, The Netherlands

    Erik C. Rosendaal, Myra Boers & Jan Komdeur

  3. Duna-Ipoly National Park Directorate, Költő u. 21., Budapest, 1121, Hungary

    Anikó Zölei

  4. Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Department of Evolutionary Zoology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary

    Miklós Bán

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  1. Csaba Moskát
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  2. Erik C. Rosendaal
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  3. Myra Boers
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  4. Anikó Zölei
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Correspondence to Csaba Moskát.

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Communicated by M. Soler

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Moskát, C., Rosendaal, E.C., Boers, M. et al. Post-ejection nest-desertion of common cuckoo hosts: a second defense mechanism or avoiding reduced reproductive success?. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 65, 1045–1053 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-010-1109-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-010-1109-7

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