Liu Qiqi, Liang Wei
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Ecology of Tropical Islands College of Life Sciences, Hainan Normal University Haikou China.
Ecol Evol. 2025 Jun 27;15(7):e71704. doi: 10.1002/ece3.71704. eCollection 2025 Jul.
In this study, we document the case of a common cuckoo () successfully locating and parasitizing the nest of a gray bushchat () by exploiting the latter's nest defense behavior in Liuzhi, Guizhou, southwest China. We found that the common cuckoo could identify the secluded nest site by observing the host's defense behaviors (e.g., frequent lunging and emitting alarm calls), and successfully laid its egg in the nest despite aggressive host defense. This phenomenon provides strong support for the "host activity hypothesis." The nest defense behavior exhibited by the gray bushchat aimed at protecting its nest, inadvertently provided cues to the common cuckoo regarding its nest site. This finding reveals a complex coevolutionary relationship between parasitism and antiparasitism, highlighting the dual role of the host's nest defense behavior in both reducing brood parasitism and providing parasites with nest-site cues. Our findings offer a new perspective for further exploring the behavioral strategies of parasitic birds and the evolutionary dynamics of the host's nest defense behavior.
在本研究中，我们记录了在中国西南部贵州六枝一只普通杜鹃（ ）通过利用灰林鵖（ ）的巢防御行为成功定位并寄生其巢穴的案例。我们发现，普通杜鹃能够通过观察宿主的防御行为（如频繁猛冲和发出警报叫声）识别出隐蔽的巢穴位置，并且尽管宿主进行了积极防御，仍成功在巢中产卵。这一现象为“宿主活动假说”提供了有力支持。灰林鵖表现出的巢防御行为旨在保护其巢穴，却无意中为普通杜鹃提供了有关其巢穴位置的线索。这一发现揭示了寄生与反寄生之间复杂的协同进化关系，凸显了宿主巢防御行为在减少巢寄生和为寄生虫提供巢穴位置线索方面的双重作用。我们的研究结果为进一步探索寄生鸟类的行为策略和宿主巢防御行为的进化动态提供了新的视角。
