Patterns of host use by a precocial obligate brood parasite, the Black-headed Duck: ecological and evolutionary considerations  

早成性专性寄生鸟类黑头鸭的宿主利用模式:生态与进化(英文)

作　　者：Bruce E.LYON John M.EADIE 

机构地区：[1]美国加州大学Santa Cruz分校生态与进化生物学系 [2]美国加州大学Davis分校野生动物与鱼类保护生物学系

出　　处：《Chinese Birds》2013年第1期71-85,100,共16页中国鸟类（英文版）

基　　金：supported by the Kananaskis Field Stations of the University of Calgary and University of California;the Dennis G. Raveling Endowment

摘　　要：The Black-headed Duck (Heteronetta atricapilla) is unique among obligate avian brood parasites because its highly precocial young leave the host nest shortly after hatching and impose no post-hatching costs on their hosts. Accordingly, we might expect host-parasite interactions in this parasite to differ strikingly from those of other brood parasites — they should be able to parasitize a broad diversity of hosts and be highly successful with these hosts. We conducted the second detailed study ever completed on patterns of host use in Black-headed Ducks. Based on four years of systematic searches of multiple marshes in Argentina, we found no evidence that Black-headed Ducks ever had nests of their own, confirming the previous conclusion that Black-headed Ducks are, indeed, true obligate brood parasites. Contrary to expectation, however, we found that Heteronetta is ecologically dependent on a surprisingly small number of host species — two species of coots and a gull — all of which are widespread and locally abundant species. Other species are numerically less important as hosts either because they are relatively uncommon, or because they are avoided by the ducks. In the three main host species, hatching success of the duck eggs was also surprisingly low (≤ 28%), based on expectations for a precocial parasite, mainly due to host rejection or neglect. Mortality due to predation on host nests, in contrast, was low for all three primary host species. These observations corroborate Weller’s observations from a single-year study. The combination of a dependence on few primary hosts and a relatively low hatching success are inconsistent with some previous hypotheses for the evolution of obligate brood parasitism in Heteronetta. Instead, our observations, and those of Weller, suggest that intense nest predation in Austral wetlands, coupled with an abundance of a few common host species that aggressively defend their nests and obtain high nest success rates, may have been an important factor in the evolution of 黑头鸭(Heteronetta atricapilla)是鸟类专性巢寄生中唯一的早成性鸟类,其雏鸟孵出后即离开巢,不再需要宿主的哺育。因此可以预期,这一寄生系统与其他的巢寄生鸟类不同,它们应该能利用较多的宿主,繁殖成效也较高。基于在阿根廷4年的研究,我们对黑头鸭的宿主利用模式有了较清晰的认识。在野外我们没有发现黑头鸭自己筑巢的证据,这进一步证实黑头鸭是专性寄生繁殖鸟类。与预期相反的是,黑头鸭仅寄生很少的宿主,包括广泛分布和数量较多的2种骨顶鸡和1种鸥类,其他的宿主很少被利用,要么因为不常见,或因为它们逃避黑头鸭。在这3种主要的宿主中,黑头鸭卵的孵化成功率也由于宿主拒绝或忽略而相当低(≤ 28%),而3种宿主由于捕食而导致的死亡率并不高。这与Weller以往仅1年的观察结果吻合。我们的研究与以往关于黑头鸭巢寄生进化的假说不同,其所利用的宿主种类不多,孵化成功率较低。这表明,古澳大利亚大陆湿地的高捕食压力,以及宿主较强的护巢行为和较高的营巢成功率,在黑头鸭寄生繁殖的进化中扮演着重要角色。

关 键 词：brood parasitism egg rejection Fulica Heteronetta atricapilla host use nest success precocial bird Red-gartered Coot Red-fronted Coot WATERFOWL 

分 类 号：Q958[生物学—动物学]