An experimental test of host's life history traits modulation in response to cuckoo parasitism risk

Hosts can counteract parasites through defences based on resistance and/or tolerance. The mechanistic basis of tolerance, which involve defensive mechanisms minimizing parasite damage after a successful parasitic attack, remains poorly explored in the study of cuckoo-host interactions. Here, we expe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2017-06, Vol.12 (6), p.e0179206-e0179206
Main Authors: Expósito-Granados, Mónica, Parejo, Deseada, Martínez, Juan Gabriel, Sánchez-Tójar, Alfredo, Precioso, Marta, Molina-Morales, Mercedes, Avilés, Jesús M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal behavior
Animals
Auditory plasticity
Biology and Life Sciences
Birds
Breeding
Cuckoos
Cues
Damage tolerance
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Eggs
Exposure
Feeding behavior
Host-parasite relationships
Life history
Medicine and Health Sciences
Nests
Parasites
Parasitism
Passeriformes - physiology
Physical Sciences
Physiological aspects
Pica
Rejection
Research and Analysis Methods
Risk perception
Studies
Symbiosis
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Summary:Hosts can counteract parasites through defences based on resistance and/or tolerance. The mechanistic basis of tolerance, which involve defensive mechanisms minimizing parasite damage after a successful parasitic attack, remains poorly explored in the study of cuckoo-host interactions. Here, we experimentally explore the possibility that the risk of great spotted cuckoo Clamator glandarius parasitism may induce tolerance defences in magpie Pica pica hosts through plasticity in life-history traits. We predict that magpies exposed to auditory cues indicating high parasitism risk will more likely exhibit resistance and/or modify their life-history traits to minimize parasitism costs (i.e. tolerance) compared to magpies under low parasitism risk. We found that manipulating the perceived parasitism risk did not affect host resistance (i.e. rejection of parasitic eggs) nor host life-history traits. Unexpectedly, host's egg volume increased over the season in nests exposed to auditory cues of control non-harmful hoopoes Upupa epops. Our results do not provide support for inducible defences (either based on resistance or tolerance) in response to risk of parasitism in magpie hosts. Even so, we encourage studying plastic expression of breeding strategies in response to risk of cuckoo parasitism to achieve a better understanding of the mechanistic basis of tolerance defences.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0179206