Habitat-selection hypothesis

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Habitat selection hypothesis is one of several hypotheses that attempt to explain the mechanisms of brood parasite host selection in cuckoos. Cuckoos are not the only brood parasites, however the behavior is more rare in other groups of birds, including ducks, weavers, and cowbirds. [1]

Brood parasites and their favored host species are known to coevolve, which means both are likely to possess specific adaptations and counteradaptations. An example of such an evolutionary arms race between a brood parasite and its host, is the phenomenon of egg rejection and egg mimicry, its counteradaptation. [2] [3] Cuckoo eggs have been found in the nests of over 100 different species, of which 11 have been identified as primary host species and a similar number as secondary. Egg patterns and coloring differs greatly between these host species, and the cuckoo eggs vary accordingly. [2] [4] Thus it is important for a female cuckoo to deposit her eggs in a nest corresponding to the same species as her foster parents, because if she were to select a different host species, that would likely entail a higher risk of egg rejection. [5]

According to the habitat selection hypothesis, host selection occurs through the means of habitat imprinting in early post-natal development. A female cuckoo retains recognition of certain stimuli, like vegetation, from experience with her natal habitat. [6] Habitats might be defined as dry or wet, shrubby or forested, lakeside, etc. This process has been termed natal habitat preference induction (NHPI) and has been found in many species across different taxa, such as insects (Hopkins’ host selection principle), fish, amphibians, mammals and birds of course. [7] This imprinting of the habitat type in which the female cuckoo was reared may cause her to subsequently return to this habitat type in order to lay eggs and therefore increases the likelihood of encountering the suitable host species, as most host species are known to be habitat specific. Thus, habitat selection is thought to allow for specific host selection by the female cuckoo. [6] [8] In some cases an individual may choose a different habitat from their original imprint based on the reproductive success of  conspecific individuals in the vicinity. [9]

Alternative Hypotheses

There are 5 hypotheses for host selection in cuckoos: Inherited preference, host imprinting, natal philopatry (returning to their own birthplace to lay eggs), nest site choice (preference based on egg and nest similarity), and the hypothesis described above, habitat selection. [8] Although the preponderance of evidence seems to be in favor of the habitat selection hypothesis, some evidence for natal philopatry has been observed in cuckoos and the majority of cuckoo eggs are found in nests and among eggs matching their foster species, which supports the nest site choice hypothesis, but does not invalidate any of the other hypotheses. [4] [10] It could also be the case that there is more than one mechanism of host selection at play here. In their 1997 study, Teuschl et al. suggest the possibility of a hierarchal decision process consisting of 3 steps: 1) upon returning from their spring migration the female cuckoos go back to the approximate location of their birthplace, which should increase the likelihood of them finding a familiar habitat, 2) choosing a suitable habitat based on habitat imprinting, 3) choosing a suitable nest within that habitat. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cuckoo</span> Family of birds

Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes. The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals, and anis. The coucals and anis are sometimes separated as distinct families, the Centropodidae and Crotophagidae, respectively. The cuckoo order Cuculiformes is one of three that make up the Otidimorphae, the other two being the turacos and the bustards. The family Cuculidae contains 150 species, which are divided into 33 genera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common cuckoo</span> Species of bird

The common cuckoo is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, Cuculiformes, which includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parrotbill</span> Group of birds

The parrotbills are a family, Paradoxornithidae, of passerine birds that are primarily native to East and Southeast Asia, though feral populations exist elsewhere. They are generally small, long-tailed birds that inhabit reedbeds and similar habitat. They feed mainly on seeds, e.g. of grasses, to which their bill, as the name implies, is well-adapted. Living in tropical to southern temperate climates, they are usually non-migratory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Behavioral ecology</span> Study of the evolutionary basis for animal behavior due to ecological pressures

Behavioral ecology, also spelled behavioural ecology, is the study of the evolutionary basis for animal behavior due to ecological pressures. Behavioral ecology emerged from ethology after Niko Tinbergen outlined four questions to address when studying animal behaviors: What are the proximate causes, ontogeny, survival value, and phylogeny of a behavior?

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asian koel</span> Species of bird

The Asian koel is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes. It is found in the Indian Subcontinent, China, and Southeast Asia. It forms a superspecies with the closely related black-billed koels, and Pacific koels which are sometimes treated as subspecies. The Asian koel like many of its related cuckoo kin is a brood parasite that lays its eggs in the nests of crows and other hosts, who raise its young. They are unusual among the cuckoos in being largely frugivorous as adults. The name koel is echoic in origin with several language variants. The bird is a widely used symbol in Indian and Nepali poetry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brood parasite</span> Animal that relies on others to raise its young

Brood parasites are animals that rely on others to raise their young. The strategy appears among birds, insects and fish. The brood parasite manipulates a host, either of the same or of another species, to raise its young as if it were its own, usually using egg mimicry, with eggs that resemble the host's.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian cuckoo</span> Species of bird

The Indian cuckoo is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, that is found in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It ranges from India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka east to Indonesia and north to China and Russia. It is a solitary and shy bird, found in forests and open woodland at up to 3,600 m (11,800 ft).

Philopatry is the tendency of an organism to stay in or habitually return to a particular area. The causes of philopatry are numerous, but natal philopatry, where animals return to their birthplace to breed, may be the most common. The term derives from the Greek roots philo, "liking, loving" and patra, "fatherland", although in recent years the term has been applied to more than just the animal's birthplace. Recent usage refers to animals returning to the same area to breed despite not being born there, and migratory species that demonstrate site fidelity: reusing stopovers, staging points, and wintering grounds.

<i>Cuculus</i> Genus of birds

Cuculus is a genus of cuckoos which has representatives in most of the Old World, although the greatest diversity is in tropical southern and southeastern Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horsfield's bronze cuckoo</span> Species of bird

Horsfield's bronze cuckoo is a small cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. Its size averages 22g and is distinguished by its green and bronze iridescent colouring on its back and incomplete brown barring from neck to tail. Horsfield's bronze cuckoo can be destiguished from other bronze cuckoos by its white eyebrow and brown eye stripe. The Horsfield's bronze cuckoo is common throughout Australia preferring the drier open woodlands away from forested areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shining bronze cuckoo</span> Species of bird

The shining bronze cuckoo is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae, found in Australia, Indonesia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. It was previously also known as Chalcites lucidus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pallid cuckoo</span> Species of bird

The pallid cuckoo is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is found in Australia, with some migration to the islands of Timor and Papua New Guinea. It is between 28 and 33 cm in size, with distinctive markings such as a dark bill, a dark eye with a gold eye-ring and olive grey feet which differentiate it from other cuckoos. The pallid cuckoo is similar in appearance to the oriental cuckoo, with barred immature pallid cuckoos being often mistaken for oriental cuckoos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-chested cuckoo</span> Species of bird

The red-chested cuckoo is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is a medium-sized bird found in Africa south of the Sahara. In Afrikaans, it is known as "Piet-my-vrou", after its call.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Screaming cowbird</span> Species of bird

The screaming cowbird is an obligate brood parasite belonging to the family Icteridae and is found in South America. It is also known commonly as the short billed cowbird.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oriental cuckoo</span> Species of bird

The Oriental cuckoo or Horsfields cuckoo is a bird belonging to the genus Cuculus in the cuckoo family Cuculidae. It was formerly classified as a subspecies of the Himalayan cuckoo, with the name 'Oriental cuckoo' used for the combined species. Differences in voice and size suggest that it should be treated as a separate species. The binomial name Cuculus horsfieldi has often been used instead of Cuculus optatus, but is now usually considered to be a junior synonym.

The Cameroon indigobird is a species of bird in the family Viduidae. It is considered by some authors to be a subspecies of the variable indigobird. They range from Sierra Leone to east Cameroon, north east Zaire and South Sudan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Egg tossing (behavior)</span>

Egg tossing or egg destruction is a behavior observed in some species of birds where one individual removes an egg from the communal nest. This is related to infanticide, where parents kill their own or other's offspring. Egg tossing is observed in avian species, most commonly females, who are involved with cooperative breeding or brood parasitism. Among colonial non-co-nesting birds, egg-tossing is observed to be performed by an individual of the same species, and, in the case of brood parasites, this behavior is done by either the same or different species. The behavior of egg tossing offers its advantages and disadvantages to both the actor and recipient.

<i>Bombus bohemicus</i> Species of bee

Bombus bohemicus, also known as the gypsy's cuckoo bumblebee, is a species of socially parasitic cuckoo bumblebee found in most of Europe with the exception of the southern Iberian Peninsula and Iceland. B. bohemicus practices inquilinism, or brood parasitism, of other bumblebee species. B. bohemicus is a generalist parasite, successfully invading several species from genus Bombus. The invading queen mimics the host nest's chemical signals, allowing her to assume a reproductively dominant role as well as manipulation of host worker fertility and behavior.

<i>Polistes semenowi</i> Species of wasp

Polistes semenowi is a species of paper wasp in the genus Polistes that is found in southeastern and southern central Europe, as well as central Asia, and was until 2017 erroneously known by the name Polistes sulcifer, while a different species was incorrectly believed to represent P. semenowi. It is one of only four known Polistes obligate social parasites, sometimes referred to as "cuckoo paper wasps", and its host is the congeneric species Polistes dominula. As an obligate social parasite, this species has lost the ability to build nests, and relies on the host workers to raise its brood. P. semenowi females use brute force, followed by chemical mimicry in order to successfully usurp a host nest and take over as the queen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eivin Røskaft</span> Norwegian evolutionary biologist

Eivin Røskaft is a Norwegian evolutionary biologist, academic, and author. He is a Professor Emeritus in evolutionary biology at the Department of Biology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway. Røskaft's research is focused on the application of evolutionary biology to conservation, which has led to projects in Asia and Africa that pertain to human-wildlife conflict, animal population dynamics, and animal behaviour in relation to human activities. He has authored or co-authored several publications, including the books Conservation of Natural Resources: Some African & Asian Examples, and Northern Serengeti Road Ecology, and is an Honorary Professor at Hainan University, Haikou, China, and Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic. He is also an elected member of Royal Norwegian Scientific Society, and the recipient of their Scientific Award.

References

  1. ↑ Payne, R B (November 1977). "The Ecology of Brood Parasitism in Birds". Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 8 (1): 1–28. doi:10.1146/annurev.es.08.110177.000245.
  2. 1 2 de L. Brooke, M.; Davies, N. B. (October 1988). "Egg mimicry by cuckoos Cuculus canorus in relation to discrimination by hosts". Nature. 335 (6191): 630–632. Bibcode:1988Natur.335..630D. doi:10.1038/335630a0. S2CID   41362434.
  3. ↑ Rothstein, S I (November 1990). "A Model System for Coevolution: Avian Brood Parasitism". Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 21 (1): 481–508. doi:10.1146/annurev.es.21.110190.002405.
  4. 1 2 Moksnes, Arne; ØSkaft, Eivin R. (August 1995). "Egg-morphs and host preference in the common cuckoo ( Cuculus canorus ): an analysis of cuckoo and host eggs from European museum collections". Journal of Zoology. 236 (4): 625–648. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1995.tb02736.x.
  5. ↑ Brooker, L. C.; Brooker, M. G. (April 1990). "Why Are Cuckoos Host Specific?". Oikos. 57 (3): 301. doi:10.2307/3565958. JSTOR   3565958.
  6. 1 2 Vogl, Wolfgang; Taborsky, Michael; Taborsky, Barbara; Teuschl, Yvonne; Honza, Marcel (December 2002). "Cuckoo females preferentially use specific habitats when searching for host nests". Animal Behaviour. 64 (6): 843–850. doi:10.1006/anbe.2003.1967. S2CID   17818119.
  7. ↑ Davis, J; Stamps, JA (August 2004). "The effect of natal experience on habitat preferences". Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 19 (8): 411–416. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2004.04.006. PMID   16701298.
  8. 1 2 3 Teuschl, Yvonne; Taborsky, Barbara; Taborsky, Michael (December 1998). "How do cuckoos find their hosts? The role of habitat imprinting". Animal Behaviour. 56 (6): 1425–1433. doi:10.1006/anbe.1998.0931. PMID   9933539. S2CID   25931055.
  9. ↑ Danchin, Etienne; Boulinier, Thierry; Massot, Manuel (October 1998). "Conspecific Reproductive Success and Breeding Habitat Selection: Implications for the Study of Coloniality". Ecology. 79 (7): 2415–2428. doi:10.2307/176832. JSTOR   176832.
  10. ↑ Seel, D. C.; Walton, K. C.; Wyllie, I. (November 1981). "Age of first breeding in the Cuckoo". Bird Study. 28 (3): 211–214. doi: 10.1080/00063658109476725 .
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