Term
| what is brood parasitism? |
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Definition
| birds that lost the ability to make their own nests lay eggs in nest of host species |
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Term
| what is the mechanic by which the parasite accomplishes brood parasitism (talk about the parasite and the parasites young) |
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Definition
| parasite removes one host egg and replaces one of its own |
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Term
| name 2 avian brood parasite groups (groups with parasitic species) |
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Definition
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Term
| What kind of adaptations would you expect a brood parasite to evolve? |
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Definition
| egg mimicry, fast incubation time, deliver eggs quickly, similar mouth patterns, similar calls |
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Term
| what kind of counter-adaptations would you expect a host to evolve? |
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Definition
| better discrimination, well hidden nests |
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Term
| are most parasitic birds obligate or facultative parasites? |
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Definition
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Term
| which avian group contains the most parasites? |
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Definition
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Term
| what is the reason behind strong gender dimorphism in cuckoo species? |
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Definition
| females must be able to stay hidden in surroundings to keep nest hidden/sneak up on nests. males need to be brightly colored to attract mates |
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Term
| what two important things triggers feeding in the host parent? |
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Definition
| gape size and number of calls |
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Term
| how does the cuckoo baby in a host nest make up for overall smaller gape surface. |
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Definition
| calls and begs for food louder and often |
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Term
| what special adaptation does the honeyguide nestling have to ensure it outcompetes other non-parsitic nestlings? |
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Definition
| hooked beak to kill off host babies that would compete for resources |
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Term
| discuss congruence in host parasite speciation. why is there often little evidence for co-speciation (think indigobird)? |
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Definition
| not much congruence bc parasites will take advantage of whatever is available. no specific compatibility/fine tuning with host species |
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Term
| . what is the host-parasite arms race? describe a mechanism by which this might occur. |
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Definition
| host and parasite evolving to maintain advantage. ex- host evolves rejection methods so parasite gets better egg mimicry. in response the host gets even stronger discrimination |
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Term
| why is it not always good for hosts to be too discriminating when it comes to their eggs? |
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Definition
| host could accidently reject its own eggs, host eggs could be damaged trying to evict parasite, high price to pay if dont accept (mafia hypothesis) |
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Term
| what is the recognition error? |
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Definition
| rejecting your own eggs because you think it may be a parasite. |
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Term
| what is the mafia hypothesis? |
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Definition
| if host rejects parasite egg, the parasite will destroy the host's entire nest to force it to re-nest so it will get another chance to put its egg in again |
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Term
| describe the relationship between parasite density and host acceptor or rejector strategies. |
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Definition
| better to be a rejector when the parasite density is high. better to be acceptor when parasite density is low. |
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Term
| what are two reasons the brown headed cowbird is not very well adapted to a life as a brood parasite? |
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Definition
| doesn't have good egg mimicry and relatively long incubation period |
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Term
| how does the negative impact of brood parasites change with host size? |
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Definition
| as host body weight increases negative impact increases |
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Term
| how does human-caused habitat fragmentation affect parasitism in generalist brood parasites like the brown headed cowbird (BHC)? |
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Definition
| parasitism rates are highest when closer to forest edges. |
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