Early‐life environmental conditions influence parasitism at adulthood and life‐history of a cuckoo host

Jesús Miguel Avilés,Marta Precioso,Juan Gabriel Martínez,Mercedes Molina‐Morales

doi:10.1111/oik.08876

Jesús Miguel Avilés, Marta Precioso + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.08876

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Abstract

Environmental conditions experienced by individuals early in life can extend into adult phenotypes with potential fitness consequences. Such environmental effects can be relevant for host species affected by parasitism, because poor early life conditions may lower parasite recognition or anti‐parasite defenses and increase the risk of future parasitism. Here we provide a first test of this possibility by using data from a 16‐year study of individually marked female magpiePica picahosts for which we know natal and adult environments, occurrence of great spotted cuckooClamator glandariusparasitism, egg discrimination ability and life history in detail. Females born in warmer years were more likely to be parasitized at adulthood and produced fewer offspring throughout their life. Egg discrimination behavior and lifespan of magpies were not influenced by the quality of natal environments. Our results provide support for the hypothesis that annual environmental variation promotes cohort effects in magpie hosts that may have an impact on cuckoo–host co‐evolutionary dynamics.

Highlights

In vertebrates, including humans, biotic and abiotic environmental conditions that individuals experience during their early life influence their growth and early development, and can translate into differences in adult phenotypes with important ecological and evolutionary consequences
Age of female at each breeding attempt was included as a covariate in the models because age is related with the probability of detecting parasitism and rejection in magpies (Molina-Morales et al 2014, Martínez et al 2020)
Our results provide support for the idea that environmental conditions experienced early in life have pervasive long-term effects on risk of suffering cuckoo parasitism at adulthood, life history and fitness in magpie hosts

Summary

Introduction

In vertebrates, including humans, biotic and abiotic environmental conditions that individuals experience during their early life influence their growth and early development, and can translate into differences in adult phenotypes with important ecological and evolutionary consequences (reviewed by Lindström 1999, Metcalfe and Monaghan 2001, Lummaa and Clutton-Brock 2002). Several empirical studies with different taxa including reptiles (Madsen and Shine 2000, Marquis et al 2008, Baron et al 2010, Le Galliard et al 2010), birds (Reid et al 2003, Van de Pol et al 2006, Saino et al 2018) and mammals (Albon et al 1987, Forchhammer et al 2001, Descamps et al 2008, Hamel et al 2009, Pigeon et al 2017) have shown that early life differences in weather conditions, population density or food availability can translate into cohort effects on fitness in the wild (i.e. differences in adult performance among individuals born in different years). The potential long-term consequences of early-life environmental effects on hosts, and how they are modulated by variation in adult environmental conditions remain unstudied in the wild

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