Yellow warbler defenses are retained in the absence of brood parasitism but enhanced by experience with cowbirds

Kuehn, Michael J.; Peer, Brian D.; McCleery, Robert A.; Rothstein, Stephen I.

Yellow warbler defenses are retained in the absence of brood parasitism but enhanced by experience with cowbirds

2016

Kuehn, Michael J. | Peer, Brian D. | McCleery, Robert A. | Rothstein, Stephen I.

Whether defenses against avian brood parasites are retained under relaxed selection is critical to understanding brood parasite–host coevolution. We show that adaptations of the yellow warbler are innate, and the decline of these behaviors in allopatry is due to phenotypic plasticity, indicating that hosts are becoming increasingly resistant to parasitism.

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