Journal
JOURNAL OF AVIAN BIOLOGY
Volume 39, Issue 6, Pages 663-671Publisher
WILEY-BLACKWELL
DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-048X.2008.04359.x
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA) [T35015, T48397]
- Swedish Research Council [621-2005-4736]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
In Hungary an unusually high rate of parasitism on the great reed warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus by the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus has been maintained for at least the last one hundred years. We evaluated parasitism rate, antiparasite defence and genetic differentiation among Hungarian great reed warblers at three sites located 40-130 km from each other, where hosts suffered from a high (41-68%), moderate (11%), and almost no (< 1%) parasitism. We were especially interested in whether the level of antiparasite defence was related to the local parasitism rate, and, if not, to understand why. There was no difference among the three sites in the responses to experimental parasitism by non-mimetic model cuckoo eggs (rejection rate 71-82%), which can be explained by strong gene flow between populations: there was low level of philopatry and no genetic differentiation in the region. Reproductive success of the host in the heavily parasitised site was about 54% of that in the unparasitised site, indicating that long-term persistence of host populations in highly exploited areas depends on continuous immigration.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available