Do life-history variables of European cuckoo hosts explain their egg-rejection behavior?

Abstract

Recently, Brooker and Brooker suggested an equilibrium in the level of host defense and parasite counter-defense despite the passage of sufficient time for the evolution of host defenses through coevolution between brood parasites and their hosts. A long coevolutionary history of brood parasitism and nest predation has favored an adjustment of the host's life-history pattern to the point where total acceptance of a cuckoo egg is now an evolutionarily stable strategy. In a comparative study based on host species as independent observations, some predictions were tested for the European cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) and Horsfield's bronze cuckoo (Chrysococcyx basalis). In this article I reanalyze the predictions made by Brooker and Brooker using information on the European cuckoo and its hosts in the British Isles while controlling for common phylogenetic descent. Only 1 of the 12 predictions of Brooker and Brooker was supported using the new analyses, and none of the life-history variables was related to rejection behavior of the hosts of the European cuckoo, implying weak support for the hypothesis. Therefore, we conclude that when analyzing life-history variables that have a phylogenetic component, the use of modern comparative analyses is essential.