Obligate Brood Parasitism on Neotropical Birds

摘要: Obligate brood parasites neither build their own nests nor rear offspring. Instead, they lay eggs in of individuals other species (hosts) that take care the parasite’s progeny. Brood parasitism frequently imposes fitness costs on hosts through partial or total reproductive losses. These favor evolution defenses against host populations, which, turn, may select for counterdefenses parasites. As a result, host–parasite interactions can lead to an evolutionary arms race is manifested range reciprocal adaptations. Because this interplay between and hosts, these systems are excellent models study coevolution. In Neotropics, there eight brood-parasitic distributed among three groups: four cowbirds (Icteridae), New World cuckoos (Cuculidae), black-headed duck (Anatidae), only known precocial parasite. chapter, we present compendium characteristics behaviors help our understanding how natural selection shape species.