Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Departamento de Zoología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain.
PLoS One. 2019 Jan 4;14(1):e0208436. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0208436. eCollection 2019.
The study of brood parasitism has traditionally been focused on the breeding period, but recent evidence suggests that it urgently needs a new spatio-temporal perspective to explore novel avenues on brood parasite-host co-evolutionary interactions. Many brood parasites are migrants, but their ecology outside their short breeding season is poorly known. The great spotted cuckoo (Clamator glandarius) is one of the classical models in the study of brood parasitism, however, there is very little information on its migratory strategy, route and wintering grounds. Furthermore, there is no previous information on the geographical distribution of mortality and its causes in this species; information that is critical to understand the fluctuations in cuckoo populations and detect potential conservation risks. Using satellite tracking technology, we provide novel insight into the migratory behavior and performance of the great spotted cuckoo. We found individuals from southern Spain to be long-distance nocturnal migrants that use the East Atlantic Flyway for both post and pre-breeding migration, and that winter in the western Sahel. We found evidence of individual variation in their migration route, particularly regarding their post-breeding behavior in Spain. Our study also suggests that the south of Morocco is the most dangerous area due to a large number of deaths during the post-breeding migratory period. Furthermore, we found that natural predation seems to be the main cause of death, probably due to raptors, although human activities (i.e. hunting) could also played a role in the southern Mediterranean shore. Our study offers novel findings and challenges traditional ideas on the ecology of this species providing a good example of how the new spatio-temporal perspective can expand our knowledge on brood parasites.
巢寄生行为的研究传统上集中在繁殖期，但最近的证据表明，迫切需要一个新的时空视角来探索巢寄生-宿主共同进化相互作用的新途径。许多巢寄生鸟类都是迁徙者，但它们在繁殖季节之外的生态情况知之甚少。大斑杜鹃（Clamator glandarius）是巢寄生研究的经典模式种之一，然而，关于其迁徙策略、路线和越冬地的信息却很少。此外，关于该物种死亡率及其原因的地理分布，我们也没有以前的信息；这些信息对于了解杜鹃种群的波动和发现潜在的保护风险至关重要。利用卫星跟踪技术，我们对大斑杜鹃的迁徙行为和性能有了新的认识。我们发现来自西班牙南部的个体是长距离夜间迁徙者，它们使用东大西洋飞行通道进行繁殖前和繁殖后的迁徙，并在西非萨赫勒越冬。我们发现它们在迁徙路线上存在个体差异，特别是在西班牙的繁殖后行为方面。我们的研究还表明，摩洛哥南部是最危险的地区，因为在繁殖后迁徙期间有大量个体死亡。此外，我们发现自然捕食似乎是导致死亡的主要原因，可能是猛禽造成的，尽管人类活动（例如狩猎）也可能在地中海南部海岸发挥了作用。我们的研究提供了新的发现，挑战了关于该物种生态学的传统观念，为如何通过新的时空视角扩展我们对巢寄生行为的认识提供了一个很好的范例。
