User:Tathagata Bhowmik

Mafia Hypothesis

According to the "mafia hypothesis," a brood parasite that learns that its eggs have not been accepted by the host parent will ruin the host's nest and also can harm or kill the nestlings to maintain its own reproductive success generation after generation. This phenomenon is a part of animal behavior. This kind of strange behavior can be seen in birds and insects.

Background:

Coevolution is the principal driving force behind the idea of the mafia hypothesis. As a mode of reproduction, avian nest parasites lay their eggs within the nests of certain other species, known as hosts, who then incubate and care for the young of the parasite, e.g., the great spotted cuckoo ('Clamator glanderous) is the parasite and the magpie (Pica pica) is their primary host. The parasites and hosts exhibit their anticipated adjustments and counter-adjustments in different stages of establishing this relationship and evolve strategies accordingly. The coevolutionary process is in operation in everything from cuckoos choosing specific hosts and hosts protecting their nests against adult cuckoos to magpies being able to spot cuckoo eggs in clutches.

Process:

The parasitic parents prey more frequently on the nests whose hosts consciously remove or reject the parasite's eggs. Therefore, host pairs with poor initial investment in reproductive success will lay a second clutch hoping for a greater probability of successful hatching. Thus parasitic parents' mafia behavior would produce a second chance for them to lay another batch of eggs and increase the success rate of parasitizing. In the course of evolution, during the initial breeding effort, if the rejecter hosts discover that it is not profitable to reject parasitic eggs from their nests, they are likely to adjust their reaction to parasitic eggs in following batches and turn into acceptors, which would eventually benefit the predator's parasitic behavior.

References:

1. Soler, J. and Soler, M., 2000. Brood-parasite interactions between great spotted cuckoos and magpies: a model system for studying coevolutionary relationships. Oecologia, 125(3), pp.309-320. 2. Soler, M., Pérez-Contreras, T. and Soler, J.J., 2017. Brood parasites as predators: farming and mafia strategies. In Avian brood parasitism (pp. 271-286). Springer, Cham. 3. Winfree, R., 1999. Cuckoos, cowbirds and the persistence of brood parasitism. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 14(9), pp.338-343. 4. Soler, M., Soler, J.J., Martinez, J.G. and M⊘ ller, A.P., 1995. Magpie host manipulation by great spotted cuckoos: evidence for an avian mafia?. Evolution, 49(4), pp.770-775. 5. Soler, J.J., Sorci, G., Soler, M. and Møller, A.P., 1999. Change in host rejection behavior mediated by the predatory behavior of its brood parasite. Behavioral Ecology, 10(3), pp.275-280. 6. Hauber, M.E., 2014. Mafia or farmer? Coevolutionary consequences of retaliation and farming as predatory strategies upon host nests by avian brood parasites. Coevolution, 2(1), pp.18-25. 7. Swan, D.C., Zanette, L.Y. and Clinchy, M., 2015. Brood parasites manipulate their hosts: experimental evidence for the farming hypothesis. Animal Behaviour, 105, pp.29-35. 8. Šulc, M., Štětková, G., Jelínek, V., Czyż, B., Dyrcz, A., Karpińska, O., Kamionka-Kanclerska, K., Rowiński, P., Maziarz, M., Gruszczyński, A. and Hughes, A.E., 2020. Killing behavior of adult brood parasites. Behaviour, 157(12-13), pp.1099-1111. 9. Abou Chakra, M., Hilbe, C. and Traulsen, A., 2014. Plastic behaviors in hosts promote the emergence of retaliatory parasites. Scientific reports, 4(1), pp.1-7. 10. Soler, J.J. and Soler, M., 2017. Evolutionary change: facultative virulence by brood parasites and tolerance and plastic resistance by hosts. Animal Behaviour, 125, pp.101-107. 11. Canestrari, D., Marcos, J.M. and Baglione, V., 2009. Cooperative breeding in carrion crows reduces the rate of brood parasitism by great spotted cuckoos. Animal Behaviour, 77(5), pp.1337-1344. 12. Soler, M., Martinez, J.G., Soler, J.J. and Møller, A.P., 1995. Chick recognition and acceptance: a weakness in magpies exploited by the parasitic great spotted cuckoo. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 37(4), pp.243-248.