The Shiny Cowbird and the Village Weaver - A Model System for Studying Change in Host Response to Brood Parasitism

闪亮牛鸟和乡村织布鸟 - 研究宿主对巢寄生反应变化的模型系统

• 批准号: 9816800
• 负责人: Alexander Cruz
• 金额: $ 10万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1999
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1999-06-01 至 2004-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9816800&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Shiny; Cowbird; Village; Weaver; Model

Animal Behavior ProgramNontechnical AbstractProposal #: 9816800PI: Cruz. AlexanderTitle: The Shiny Cowbird and the Village Weaver - A Model System forStudying Change in Host Response to Brood ParasitismBrood parasitism in birds occurs when the females of one species lay theireggs in the nests of a host species. The host species then rears theoffspring of the parasite. Host species may evolve defenses against broodparasitism. One such defense is egg rejection in which eggs of theparasitic species are removed from the nest. A host species, the VillageWeaver, was introduced to the island of Hispaniola without its broodparasite. Studies conducted in 1982-1985 by Dr. Cruz showed that in theabsence of its brood parasite the village weaver ceased to exhibit eggrejection behavior. Recently, the shiny cow bird, a brood parasite of thevillage weaver, has been introduced to the island of Hispaniola therebyproducing a unique natural experiment for study of how host defensebehavior against brood parasitism may evolve. Dr. Cruz will determine thelength of time that populations of the village weaver have been exposed tothe brood parasite; and will determine how defense behaviors such as eggrejection and aggression toward the brood parasite are correlated with thetime of exposure.This research has great potential for the understanding of avian broodparasitism. It has broad evolutionary implications as it will provide anestimate of the time needed for a host species to evolve defensivebehavior. In addition, because brood parasitism by cow birds may pose athreat to migratory song birds in North America, it is important that thedynamics of brood parasitism and host defense be understood. Thisknowledge could be of importance with regard to conservation of aviandiversity.

动物行为计划非技术摘要提案编号：9816800 PI：Cruz。AlexanderTitle：闪亮的牛鹂和乡村织布工-一个研究寄主对育雏寄生反应变化的模型系统当一个物种的雌性在一个寄主物种的巢中产卵时，鸟类中的育雏寄生发生。 宿主物种然后养育寄生虫的后代。 寄主物种可能进化出防御亲卵寄生的能力。 一种这样的防御是卵排斥，其中寄生物种的卵被从巢中移走。 一个宿主物种，VillageWeaver，被引入伊斯帕尼奥拉岛，没有它的幼虫寄生虫。 克鲁兹博士在1982-1985年进行的研究表明，在没有其幼虫寄生虫的情况下，乡村织布工不再表现出产卵行为。 最近，闪亮的牛鸟，一种乡村织布工的育雏寄生虫，被引入伊斯帕尼奥拉岛，从而产生了一个独特的自然实验，用于研究宿主对育雏寄生虫的防御行为如何进化。 Cruz博士将确定村织雀种群暴露于育雏寄生虫的时间长度;并将确定防御行为，如对育雏寄生虫的排斥和攻击与暴露时间的关系。这项研究对了解鸟类育雏寄生有很大的潜力。 它具有广泛的进化意义，因为它将估计宿主物种进化防御行为所需的时间。 此外，由于乳鸟的育雏寄生可能对北美的迁徙鸣禽构成威胁，因此了解育雏寄生和宿主防御的动态是很重要的。 这些知识对于保护鸟类多样性具有重要意义。