Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2018 Mar 8;13(3):e0194059.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194059. eCollection 2018.

Mating system and extra-pair paternity in the Fan-tailed Gerygone Gerygone flavolateralis in relation to parasitism by the Shining Bronze-cuckoo Chalcites lucidus

Katarzyna Bojarska  1   2 , Ralph Kuehn  2   3 , Małgorzata A Gazda  1 , Nozomu J Sato  4 , Yuji Okahisa  4 , Keita D Tanaka  4 , Alfredo Attisano  1 , Roman Gula  1 , Keisuke Ueda  4 , Jörn Theuerkauf  1
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Mating system and extra-pair paternity in the Fan-tailed Gerygone Gerygone flavolateralis in relation to parasitism by the Shining Bronze-cuckoo Chalcites lucidus

Katarzyna Bojarska et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Extra-pair copulation can increase genetic diversity and offspring fitness. However, it may also increase intra-nest variability in avian hosts of brood parasites, which can decrease the discrimination ability of host parents towards the parasite. In New Caledonia, the Fan-tailed Gerygone (Gerygone flavolateralis), which is parasitized by the Shining Bronze-cuckoo (Chalcites lucidus), has two nestling morphs, dark and bright, that can occur in monomorphic and polymorphic broods. Gerygone parents recognize and eject parasite nestlings from their nest, but the presence of polymorphic broods may increase the chances of recognition errors. Using 17 microsatellite markers, we investigated the mating system of the Fan-tailed Gerygone to understand the mechanisms underlying nestling polymorphism. We hypothesised that extra-pair copulations would lead to a higher proportion of polymorphic broods caused by higher genetic variability, thus creating a trade-off between genetic benefits and host defence reliability. Extra-pair paternity occurred in 6 of 36 broods, which resulted in 6 of 69 offspring sired by extra-pair males. Broods with and without mixed paternity were comparably often parasitized. Extra-pair paternity did not influence the proportions of bright, dark and polymorphic broods. Compared to bright siblings in polymorphic broods, dark nestlings tended to have lower heterozygosity, particularly in loci associated with skin coloration. The results also suggested that there is no obstacle for genetic exchange between individuals from forest and savannah, possibly due to dispersal of offspring. We conclude that the Fan-tailed Gerygone is a socially monogamous species with a low rate of extra-pair paternity compared to closely related species. Extra-pair paternity increased offspring genetic variability without measurable associated costs by brood parasitism. The results highlight the importance of studying host mating systems to assess the trade-offs between host defence and offspring fitness in co-evolutionary arms races.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Locations of sampled Fan-tailed Gerygone nests in the Parc des Grandes Fougères and surroundings.
The colours of dots indicate the mean genetic constitution of breeding attempts, based on Principal Coordinates calculated on Euclidean distances and transformed into RGB values. White background indicates open areas, grey forest.
Fig 2
Fig 2
Genetic constitution of 127 Fan-tailed Gerygones of 36 breeding attempts in New Caledonia with single (a) and mixed (b) paternity. First two columns consist of broods with bright skin coloration, third column–dark skin coloration, and fourth column–polymorphic broods. The number in upper left corner of each plot corresponds to breeding attempt ID in Fig 1 and Table 1. Squares indicate females, triangles males, and circles offspring. Position of the individuals within the graph is determined by two first Principal Coordinates calculated based on Euclidean distances. The colours correspond to the three first Principal Coordinates transformed into RGB.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Internal relatedness and standardized heterozygosity in Fan-tailed Gerygone nestlings from six mixed-paternity broods (offspring sired either by an extra-pair father (n = 6) or by their social father (n = 6)) and in single-paternity broods (n = 57) based on the analysis of 17 microsatellite loci.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Internal relatedness and standardized heterozygosity in Fan-tailed Gerygone nestlings in New Caledonia grouped by skin coloration (49 bright and 15 dark), based on analysis of all 17 microsatellite loci and seven loci associated with skin colour.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Payne RB. The cuckoos Oxford University Press; 2005.
    1. Davies NB. Cuckoos, cowbirds and other cheats T. & A. D. Poyser Ltd; 2000.
    1. Feeney WE, Welbergen JA, Langmore NE. The frontline of avian brood parasite–host coevolution. Anim Behav. 2012; 84: 3–12.
    1. Gloag R, Fiorini VD, Reboreda JC, Kacelnik A. The wages of violence: mobbing by mockingbirds as a frontline defence against brood-parasitic cowbirds. Anim Behav. 2013; 86: 1023–1029.
    1. Thorogood R, Davies NB. Reed warbler hosts fine‐tune their defenses to track three decades of cuckoo decline. Evolution 2013; 67: 3545–3555. doi: 10.1111/evo.12213 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources