ORCID Profile
0000-0002-7273-3073
Current Organisation
Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences
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Publications
Parrots of Oceania – a comparative study of extinction risk
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 18-12-2017
Preliminary surveillance for beak and feather disease virus in wild parrots of New Caledonia: implications of a reservoir species for Ouvea Parakeets
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-2014
DOI: 10.1071/MU14029
Polymorphism at the nestling stage and host‐specific mimicry in an Australasian cuckoo‐host arms race
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-12-2022
Abstract: Decades of research have shown that the coevolutionary arms race between avian brood parasites and their hosts can promote phenotypic ersification in hosts and brood parasites. However, relatively little is known about the role of brood parasitism in promoting phenotypic ersification of nestlings. We review field data collected over four decades in Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand to assess potential for coevolutionary interactions between the shining bronze‐cuckoo ( Chalcites lucidus ) and its hosts, and how ersification at the nestling stage may be generating different subspecies. The shining bronze‐cuckoo is a specialist parasite of a few hosts in the family Acanthizidae. It has ersified into subspecies, of which the nestlings closely mimic the respective host nestlings in each region. Additionally, some cuckoo subspecies have polymorphic nestlings. The Acanthizidae hosts have similar breeding and nesting habits and only moderately effective frontline defences against parasitism at cuckoo egg laying or at the egg stages. However, some hosts have developed highly effective defences at the nestling stage by recognising and ejecting cuckoo nestlings from the nest. As with the cuckoo nestlings, some hosts have polymorphic nestlings. The coevolutionary interactions in each region suggest different evolutionary stages of the arms race in which either the parasite or the host is currently in the lead. The presence of moderately effective defences at the egg laying and egg stages might explain why some hosts do not have defences at the nestling stage. The south‐Pacific cuckoo – host systems are excellent models to explore the evolutionary mechanisms driving the ersification at the nestling stage in the coevolutionary arms race between avian brood parasites and their hosts.
Threat recognition and response in an avian brood-parasite host from New Caledonia
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 16-10-2020
DOI: 10.1093/CZ/ZOAA061
Abstract: Nest predation and avian brood parasitism are the main sources of nest failure in many passerine birds. Large predators threaten both brood and parents, whereas brood parasites pose only a danger to eggs or nestlings. The fan-tailed gerygone Gerygone flavolateralis from New Caledonia is subjected to high rates of nest predation by the New Caledonian crow Corvus moneduloides (responsible for about 20–40% of predation) and moderate rates of brood parasitism by the shining bronze-cuckoo Chalcites lucidus (parasitizing about 18% of nests), which also depredates nests that are too advanced for parasitism (13% of nests). To test if fan-tailed gerygones are able to discriminate predators from brood parasites, we presented 3 bird models at active gerygone nests: a brood parasite/small nest predator (shining bronze-cuckoo), a large nest predator (crow), and a small non-native bird (common chaffinch Fringilla coelebs), which is unknown to the gerygone, as a control. We assessed the response of adult gerygones to the presentation of each model by measuring the minimum approach distance, number of alarm calls, number of attacks, and time to first nest visit after the presentation (latency). Adult gerygones often attacked the cuckoo, approached but never attacked the chaffinch and always avoided the crow. Latency was shorter after an attack response and during brooding, but similar among models. We did not find any link between the cuckoo model presentation and later ejection of cuckoo nestlings. We conclude that adult fan-tailed gerygones discriminate between different models and respond accordingly to the level of threat, but do not show awareness of parasitism risk and increase of nestling ejection rates following exposure to the cuckoo model.
Can the intake of antiparasitic secondary metabolites explain the low prevalence of hemoparasites among wild Psittaciformes?
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 19-06-2018
Nestling polymorphism in a cuckoo-host system
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2015
DOI: 10.1016/J.CUB.2015.11.028
Abstract: Virulence of avian brood parasites can trigger a coevolutionary arms race, which favours rejection of parasitic eggs or chicks by host parents, and in turn leads to mimicry in parasite eggs or chicks [1-7]. The appearance of host offspring is critical to enable host parents to detect parasites. Thus, increasing accuracy of parasites' mimicry can favour a newly emerged host morph to escape parasites' mimicry. If parasites catch up with the hosts with a newly acquired mimetic morph, host polymorphism should be maintained through apostatic (negative frequency-dependent) selection, which favours hosts rarer morphs [1-3,7]. Among population-wide polymorphism, uniformity of respective host morphs in single host nests stochastically prevents parasites from targeting any specific morph of hosts and thus helps parents detect parasitism. Polymorphism in such a state is well-known in egg appearances of hosts of brood parasitic birds [2,3,7], which might also occur in chick appearances when arms races escalate. Here, we present evidence of polymorphism in chick skin coloration in a cuckoo-host system: the fan-tailed gerygone Gerygone flavolateralis and its specialist brood parasite, the shining bronze-cuckoo Chalcites lucidus in New Caledonia (Figure 1A-C).
Related Organisations
Museum And Institute Of Zoology, Polish Academy Of Sciences
Location: Poland
Technische Universität München Fakultät Wissenschaftszentrum Weihenstephan Für Ernährung Landnutzung Und Umwelt
Location: Germany
Related Funding Activities
No related grants have been discovered for Jörn Theuerkauf.