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An obligate brood parasite trapped in the intraspecific arms race of its hosts

Nature volume 432, pages 390–393 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Reciprocal selection pressures often lead to close and adaptive matching of traits in coevolved species. A failure of one species to match the evolutionary trajectories of another is often attributed to evolutionary lags1,2 or to differing selection pressures across a geographic mosaic3,4. Here we show that mismatches in adaptation of interacting species—an obligate brood parasitic duck and each of its two main hosts—are best explained by the evolutionary dynamics within the host species. Rejection of the brood parasite's eggs was common by both hosts, despite a lack of detectable cost of parasitism to the hosts. Egg rejection markedly reduced parasite fitness, but egg mimicry experiments revealed no phenotypic natural selection for more mimetic parasitic eggs. These paradoxical results were resolved by the discovery of intraspecific brood parasitism and conspecific egg rejection within the hosts themselves. The apparent arms race between species seems instead to be an incidental by-product of within-species conflict, with little recourse for evolutionary response by the parasite.

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Figure 1: Frequency and attributes of parasitism in the two main hosts of the black-headed duck, the red-gartered coot (RG coot) and red-fronted coot (RF coot).
Figure 2: Results of egg mimicry experiments in the two principal hosts.

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Acknowledgements

We thank C. Benkman, J. Briskie, A. Chaine, N. Davies, M. Hauber, A. Lotem, D. Mock, R. Montgomerie, S. Rothstein, J. Thompson and K. Wasson for comments on the manuscript; the National Geographic Society and the British Broadcasting Corporation (D. Attenborough's Life of Birds) for funding; the Flores family, J. Echerran, M. Beade and J. C. Reboreda for logistic support; and V. Meuhter, G. Goggin and A. Carminati for assistance in the field. During part of the study, B.E.L. was supported by the Kananaskis Field Stations of the University of Calgary and University of California, and J.McA.E. by the Dennis G. Raveling Endowment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, California, 95064, USA

    Bruce E. Lyon

  2. Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, California, 95616-8751, USA

    John McA. Eadie

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  1. Bruce E. Lyon
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  2. John McA. Eadie
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Correspondence to Bruce E. Lyon.

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Lyon, B., Eadie, J. An obligate brood parasite trapped in the intraspecific arms race of its hosts. Nature 432, 390–393 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03036

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