Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Do avian brood parasites eavesdrop on heterospecific sexual signals revealing host quality? A review of the evidence

  • Review
  • Published:
Animal Cognition Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Eavesdropping can be defined as the extraction of information from the interactions between other individuals. It provides a relatively cheap way of gathering relevant information for fitness enhancement. Here, we propose that obligate avian brood parasites, which always lay their eggs in foreign nests of individuals of other species, may eavesdrop on their host sexual signals to locate nests of high quality individuals in which to lay their parasitic eggs. Sexual signal variation can honestly signal parental quality. Thus, by eavesdropping on sexual signals, parasites may select high quality foster parents for their own offspring. Such a use of sexual signals within host populations by brood parasites differs from signal exploitation theory that proposes that parasite only use signals to locate potential host independently from signaller quality. Here, we review the avian literature concerning host choice within a host species by obligate avian brood parasites and find evidence for host selection within individuals of a host species on the basis of cues potentially functioning as sexually selected traits, or at least revealing parental abilities. We have also found support for the existence of benefits linked to host selection by avian brood parasites. Finally, one study reported on the attenuation of a sexual ornament in host populations under strong pressure by brood parasites. Most of these findings have been interpreted as evidence for host selection by avian brood parasites based on the conspicuousness of sexual signals. We suggest, however, that these findings may in fact reveal eavesdropping on host signalling performance by brood parasites which would use the information extracted to choose the better individuals among conspecifics of a given host. This provides a new perspective for the study of host selection in obligate brood parasites, and raises interesting questions for the study of animal cognition that would deserve experimental studies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Álvarez F (2000) Clutches of rufous bush chats Cercotrichas galactotes parasitized by cuckoos Cuculus canorus contain larger eggs. Ardea 88:109–112

    Google Scholar 

  • Andersson M (1994) Sexual selection. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ

    Google Scholar 

  • Astié AA, Kacelnik A, Reboreda JC (1998) Sexual differences in memory in shny cowbirds. Anim Cogn 1:77–82

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banks AJ, Martin TE (2001) Host activity and the risk of nest parasitism by brown-headed cowbirds. Behav Ecol 12:31–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Barclay RMR (1982) Interindividual use of echolocation calls: eavesdropping by bats. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 10:271–275

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burk T (1982) Evolutionary significance of predation on sexually signalling males. Florida Entomol 65:90–104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Catchpole CK, Slater PJB (1995) Bird song: biological themes and variations. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Clotfelter ED (1998) What cues do brown-headed cowbirds use to locate red-winged blackbird host nests? Anim Behav 55:1181–1189

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Danchin E, Boulinier T, Massot M (1998) Conspecific reproductive success and breeding habitat selection: implications for the study of coloniality. Ecology 79:2415–2428

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Danchin E, Heg D, Doligez B (2001) Public information and breeding habitat selection. In: Clobert J, Danchin E, Dhondt AA, Nichols JD (eds) Dispersal. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 243–258

    Google Scholar 

  • Danchin E, Giraldeau LA, Valone TJ, Wagner RH (2004) Public information: from nosy neighbors to cultural evolution. Science 305:487–491

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Davies NB (2000) Cuckoos, cowbirds, and others cheats. T & A D Poyser, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Dawkins R, Krebs JR (1979) Arms races between and within species. Proc R Soc Lond B 205:489–511

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Deecke VB, Slater PJB, Ford JKB (2002) Selective habituation shapes acoustic predator recognition in harbour seals. Nature 420:171–173

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • de Neve L, Soler JJ, Soler M, Pérez-Contreras T (2004) Nest size predicts the effect of food supplementation to magpie nestlings on their immunocompetence: an experimental test of nest size indicating parental ability. Behav Ecol 15:1031–1036

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doligez B, Danchin E, Clobert J (2002) Public information and breeding habitat selection in a wild bird population. Science 297:1168–1170

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Doligez B, Cadet C, Danchin E, Boulinier T (2003) When to use public information for breeding habitat selection? The role of environmental predictability and density dependence. Anim Behav 66:973–988

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doutrelant C, McGregor PK (2000) Eavesdropping and mate choice in female fighting fish. Behaviour 137:1655–1669

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doutrelant C, McGregor PK, Oliveira RF (2001) The effect of an audience on intrasexual communication in male Siamese fighting fish Betta splendens. Behav Ecol 12:283–286

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Endler JA (1992) Signals, signal condition, and the direction of evolution. Am Nat 139:S125–S153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fiorini VD, Reboreda JC (2006) Cues used by shiny cowbirds (Molothrus bonariensis) to locate and parasitise chalk-browed mockingbird (Mimus saturninus) nests. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 60:379–385

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garamszegi LZ, Avilés JM (2005) Brood parasitism by brown-headed cowbirds and the expression of sexual characters in their hosts. Oecologia 143:167–177

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grant ND, Sealy SG (2002) Selection of red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) hosts by the brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater). Bird Behav 15:21–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnstone RA (1998) Conspiratorial whispers and conspicuous displays: games of signal detection. Evolution 52:1554–1563

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Madsen PT, Wahlberg M, Mohl B (2002) Male sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) acoustics in a high-latitude habitat: implications for echolocation and communication. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 53:31–41

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGregor PK (1993) Signalling in territorial systems: a context for individual identification, ranging and eavesdropping. Phil Trans R Soc Lond B 340:237–244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGregor PK, Dabelsteen T (1996) Communication networks. In: Kroodsma DE, Miller HE (eds) Ecology and evolution of acoustic communication in birds. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, pp 409–425

    Google Scholar 

  • McLaren CM, Sealy SG (2003) Factors influencing susceptibility of host nests to brood parasitism. Ethol Ecol Evol 15:343–353

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moskát C, Honza M (2000) Effect of nest and nest site characteristics on the risk of cuckoo Cuculus canorus parasitism in the great reed warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus. Ecography 23:335–341

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naguib M, Fichtel C, Todt D (1999) Nightingales respond more strongly to vocal leaders of simulated dyadic interactions. Proc R Soc Lond B 266:537–542

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nieh JC, Barreto LS, Contrera FAL, Emperatriz-Fonseca VL (2004) Olfactory eavesdropping by a competitively foraging stingless bee, Trigona spinipes. Proc R Soc Lond B 271:1633–1640

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Keefe J, Nadel L (1978) The hippocampus as a cognitive map. Clarendon, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Oliveira RF, McGregor PK, Latruffe C (1998) Know thine enemy: fighting fish gather information from observing conspecifics interactions? Proc R Soc Lond B 265:1045–1049

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orians GH, Christman GM (1968) A comparative study of the behavior of red-winged, tricolored, and yellow-headed blackbirds. Univ California Publ Zool 84:1–81

    Google Scholar 

  • Palomino JJ, Martín-Vivaldi M, Soler M, Soler JJ (1998) Functional significance of nest size variation in the Rufous bush robin Cercotrichas galactotes. Ardea 86:177–185

    Google Scholar 

  • Parejo D, Danchin E, Avilés JM (2005) The heterospecific habitat copying hypothesis: can competitors indicate habitat quality? Behav Ecol 16:96–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phelps SM, Rand AS, Ryan MJ (2007) The mixed-species chorus as public information: túngara frogs eavesdrop on a heterospecific. Behav Ecol (in press), DOI: 10.1093/beheco/ar1063

  • Pöysä H (2006) Public information and conspecific nest parasitism in goldeneyes: targeting safe nests by parasites. Behav Ecol 17:459–465

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reboreda JC, Clayton NS, Kacelnik A (1996) Species and sex differences in hippocampus size between parasitic and non-parasitic cowbirds. Neuroreport 7:505–508

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rothstein SI (1990) A model system for coevolution: avian brood parasitism. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 21:481–508

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Searcy WA, Yasukawa K (1995) Polygyny and sexual selection in red-winged blackbirds. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith JNM (1981) Cowbird parasitism, host fitness, and age of the host female in an island song sparrow population. Condor 83:152–161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith JNM, Arcese P (1984) Brown-headed cowbirds and an island population of song sparrows: a 16-year study. Condor 96:916–934

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith JNM, Arcese P, McLean IG (1984) Age, experience, and enemy recognition by wild song sparrows. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 14:101–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soler M, Soler JJ (1999) Innate versus learned recognition of conspecifics in great spotted cuckoos Clamator glandarius. Anim Cogn 2:97–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soler JJ, Møller AP, Soler M (1998) Nest building, sexual selection and parental investment. Evol Ecol 12:427–441

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soler JJ, Soler M, Møller AP, Martínez JG (1995) Does the great spotted cuckoo choose magpie host according to their parenting ability? Behav Ecol Sociobiol 36:201–206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soler JJ, Martínez JG, Soler M, Møller AP (1999) Host sexual selection and cuckoo parasitism: an analysis of nest size in sympatric and allopatric magpie Pica pica populations parasitized by the great spotted cuckoo Clamator glandarius. Proc R Soc Lond B 266:1765–1771

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soler JJ, de Neve L, Martínez JG, Soler M (2001) Nest size affects clutch size and the start of incubation in magpies: an experimental study. Behav Ecol 12:301–307

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Szentirmai I, Komdeur J, Szekely T (2005) What makes a nest-building male successful? Male behaviour and female care in penduline tits. Behav Ecol 16:994–1000

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tuttle MD, Ryan MJ (1981) Bat predation and the evolution of frog vocalizations in the neotropics. Nature 214:677–678

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Uyehara JC, Narins PM (1995) Nest defense by willow flycatchers to brood-parasitic intruders. Condor 97:361–368

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verrell PA (1991) Illegitimate exploitation of sexual signalling systems and the origin of species. Ethol Ecol Evol 3:273–283

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiley JW (1988) Host selection by the shiny cowbird. Condor 90:289–303

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiley RH (1994) Errors, exaggeration and deception in animal communication. In: Real LA (ed) Behavioral mechanisms in evolutionary ecology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 157–189

    Google Scholar 

  • Zuk M, Kolluru GR (1998) Exploitation of sexual signals by predators and parasitoids. Q Rev Biol 73:415–438

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We specially thank Etienne Danchin, Juan G. Martínez and Juan J. Soler for very helpful comments on previous versions of the manuscript and discussion on many aspects of information transfer. Three anonymous referees also provided interesting suggestions for the manuscript. T. Czeschlik greatly encouraged our work. We were funded by the European Social Fund with two I3P contracts in the C.S.I.C.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology, Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas, C.S.I.C. C/General Segura 1, 04001, Almería, Spain

    Deseada Parejo & Jesús M. Avilés

Authors
  1. Deseada Parejo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jesús M. Avilés
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Deseada Parejo.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Parejo, D., Avilés, J.M. Do avian brood parasites eavesdrop on heterospecific sexual signals revealing host quality? A review of the evidence. Anim Cogn 10, 81–88 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-006-0055-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-006-0055-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation