Abstract Parasites often manipulate host behaviors to achieve their own selfish fitness goals. However, the efficiency with which parasitic begging calls solicit foster parental care has not yet been compared across different avian obligate host-brood parasite systems. For example, the begging calls of nestmate-evictor parasites are predicted to solicit sufficient levels of foster parental provisioning for the sole parasitic chick in the nest, whereas the calls of nest-sharing parasites combine together with the begging by host nestmates to solicit provisions for the whole brood. We studied the red-winged blackbird ( Agelaius phoeniceus ), a host of the brood parasitic brown-headed cowbird ( Molothrus ater ), to test the effects of begging call playbacks of nestmate-evictor common cuckoos ( Cuculus canorus ) or nestmate-sharing cowbirds upon parental feeding patterns. As predicted, cuckoo calls elicited more parental feeding trips and the amount of food delivered than cowbird calls. Food provisioning to nestlings while hearing cuckoo begging calls was similar to that while hearing redwing calls, and both were higher relative to a control silence treatment, which suggested that the begging call acoustics of the cuckoo served as an efficient stimulus for parental care in this cuckoo-naïve host. The study also confirms that cowbird calls are not supernormal stimuli for parental provisions in this host species, as redwing begging calls themselves were similarly effective stimulants for conspecific parental provisioning behaviors. Future research should examine the acoustical bases and perceptual biases present in the cuckoo’s begging calls to efficiently solicit parental provisioning in both naïve and coevolved hosts. Significance statement Nestlings of different avian brood parasites use distinct strategies to survive and solicit parental provisions by heterospecific foster parents: some of them evict or otherwise kill host nestmate to grow up alone in the nest (e.g., common cuckoos), whereas others typically share the nest with host chicks (e.g., brown-headed cowbirds). However, the efficiency to solicit parental care through begging calls by brood parasitic young with respect to their nestmate-evictor versus nest-sharing strategies has not yet been evaluated. We focused on a cuckoo-naïve and cowbird-exposed host species, the red-winged blackbird, to compare the effects of begging call playbacks of parasites and conspecifics, relative to silence controls. We found that the begging calls of cuckoos, rather than the cowbirds, elicited more parental feeding in this cuckoo-naïve host. This implied that it was the nestmate-evictor strategy, rather than host familiarity, that improved the efficiency of the parasitic begging calls. Our results provide the first experimental data on the efficiency of begging calls between cuckoos and cowbirds within the same host species, and it contributes to our understanding of the divergent ontogenetic strategies of evolutionarily distinct avian brood parasites.

中文翻译：

---

与共享巢穴的棕头牛鸟相比，驱逐同窝者的普通杜鹃的寄生乞求会刺激红翅黑鹂的更多父母供给

摘要 寄生虫经常操纵宿主行为以实现其自私的健身目标。然而，尚未在不同的鸟类专性寄主 - 繁殖寄生虫系统中比较寄生乞讨电话寻求寄养父母照顾的效率。例如，预计同巢者驱逐寄生虫的乞求会为巢中唯一的寄生小鸡索取足够水平的养父母供应，而共享巢穴的寄生虫的呼吁与寄主同窝者的乞求相结合，以征求养育条件。整个巢。我们研究了红翅黑鸫（Agelaius phoeniceus），这是一群寄生的棕头牛鸫（ Molothrus ater ），测试乞求呼叫回放的同窝-驱逐普通杜鹃 ( Cuculus canorus ) 或同窝共享牛鸟对父母喂养模式的影响。正如预测的那样，布谷鸟的叫声比牛鸟的叫声引起了更多的父母喂食和送来的食物量。听到杜鹃乞讨声时给雏鸟的食物供应与听到红翼鸟叫声时相似，两者都高于对照组的沉默处理，这表明杜鹃的乞求声学是这种杜鹃的父母照顾的有效刺激-天真主机。该研究还证实，在这个宿主物种中，牛鸟的叫声并不是对父母供应的超常刺激，因为红翅乞求电话本身对于同种父母供应行为同样有效。未来的研究应该检查布谷鸟的乞求呼叫中存在的声学基础和感知偏差，以有效地在幼稚和共同进化的宿主中征求父母的供应。意义声明 不同鸟类寄生寄生虫的雏鸟使用不同的策略来生存，并通过异种寄养父母征求父母的要求：其中一些会驱逐或以其他方式杀死寄主同窝者以在巢中单独长大（例如，普通杜鹃），而另一些则通常共享与寄主雏鸟（如棕头牛鹂）筑巢。然而，尚未评估通过寄生幼崽的乞讨来寻求父母照顾的效率在它们的巢友驱逐与巢穴共享策略方面。我们专注于布谷鸟幼稚和牛鸟暴露的宿主物种，红翅黑鸟，比较乞求寄生虫和同种动物的呼叫回放的效果，相对于静音控制。我们发现布谷鸟的乞讨声，而不是牛鸟，在这个布谷鸟幼稚的宿主中引起了更多的父母喂养。这意味着是巢友驱逐策略，而不是主机熟悉度，提高了寄生乞求调用的效率。我们的研究结果提供了关于同一宿主物种中杜鹃和牛鸟之间乞求呼叫效率的第一个实验数据，它有助于我们理解进化上不同的鸟类寄生虫的不同个体发育策略。在这个布谷鸟幼稚的宿主中引起了更多的父母喂养。这意味着是巢友驱逐策略，而不是主机熟悉度，提高了寄生乞求调用的效率。我们的研究结果提供了关于同一宿主物种中杜鹃和牛鸟之间乞求呼叫效率的第一个实验数据，它有助于我们理解进化上不同的鸟类寄生虫的不同个体发育策略。在这个布谷鸟幼稚的宿主中引起了更多的父母喂养。这意味着是巢友驱逐策略，而不是主机熟悉度，提高了寄生乞求调用的效率。我们的研究结果提供了关于同一宿主物种中杜鹃和牛鸟之间乞求呼叫效率的第一个实验数据，它有助于我们理解进化上不同的鸟类寄生虫的不同个体发育策略。