Host learning selects for the coevolution of greater egg mimicry and narrower antiparasitic egg-rejection thresholds

Kuangyi Xu; Maria R Servedio; Sarah K Winnicki; Csaba Moskát; Jeffrey P Hoover; Abbigail M Turner; Mark E Hauber

doi:10.1093/evlett/qrad041

journal article Open Access Sep 21, 2023

Host learning selects for the coevolution of greater egg mimicry and narrower antiparasitic egg-rejection thresholds

Kuangyi Xu

Maria R Servedio Sarah K Winnicki Csaba Moskát

Jeffrey P Hoover Abbigail M Turner Mark E Hauber

Evolution Letters Vol. 7 No. 6 pp. 413-421 · Oxford University Press (OUP)

View at Publisher Save 10.1093/evlett/qrad041

Abstract

Abstract
Egg rejection is an effective and widespread antiparasitic defense to eliminate foreign eggs from the nests of hosts of brood parasitic birds. Several lines of observational and critical experimental evidence support a role for learning by hosts in the recognition of parasitic versus own eggs; specifically, individual hosts that have had prior or current experience with brood parasitism are more likely to reject foreign eggs. Here we confirm experimentally the role of prior experience in altering subsequent egg-rejection decisions in the American robin Turdus migratorius, a free-living host species of an obligate brood parasite, the brown-headed cowbird Molothrus ater. We then model the coevolutionary trajectory of both the extent of mimicry of host eggs by parasitic eggs and the host’s egg rejection thresholds in response to an increasing role of learning in egg recognition. Critically, with more learning, we see the evolution of both narrower (more discriminating) rejection thresholds in hosts and greater egg mimicry in parasites. Increasing host clutch size (number of eggs/nest) and increasing parasite load (parasitism rate) also have narrowing effects on the egg-rejection threshold. Together, these results suggest that learning from prior experience with egg rejection may play an important role in the coevolution of egg-mimetic lineages of brood parasites and the refined egg rejection defenses of hosts.

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Details

Published: Sep 21, 2023
Vol/Issue: 7(6)
Pages: 413-421
License: View

Authors

K

Kuangyi Xu

Department of Biology, University of North Carolina , Chapel Hill, NC , United States

M

Maria R Servedio

Department of Biology, University of North Carolina , Chapel Hill, NC , United States

S

Sarah K Winnicki

Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign , Champaign, IL , United States; Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation, University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign , Champaign, IL , United States

C

Csaba Moskát

Hungarian Natural History Museum , Budapest , Hungary

J

Jeffrey P Hoover

llinois Natural History Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign , Champaign, IL , United States

A

Abbigail M Turner

Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign , Champaign, IL , United States

M

Mark E Hauber

Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign , Champaign, IL , United States; Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation, University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign , Champaign, IL , United States; llinois Natural History Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign , Champaign, IL , United States; Advanced Science Research Center and Program in Psychology, Graduate Center of the City University of New York , New York, NY , United States

Funding

National Science Foundation Award: DEB-1939290

Cite This Article

Kuangyi Xu, Maria R Servedio, Sarah K Winnicki, et al. (2023). Host learning selects for the coevolution of greater egg mimicry and narrower antiparasitic egg-rejection thresholds. Evolution Letters, 7(6), 413-421. https://doi.org/10.1093/evlett/qrad041

Host learning selects for the coevolution of greater egg mimicry and narrower antiparasitic egg-rejection thresholds

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