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Behavioral Ecology Advance Access originally published online on November 17, 2007
Behavioral Ecology 2008 19(1):67-73; doi:10.1093/beheco/arm113
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Spatial relatedness and brood parasitism in a female-philopatric bird population

Peter Waldecka, Malte Anderssona, Mikael Kilpib and Markus Östc

a Department of Zoology, University of Gothenburg, Box 463, SE 405 30 Göteborg, Sweden b Aronia Research Centre, Åbo Akademi University & Sydväst Polytechnic, Raseborgsvägen 9, FI-10600 Ekenäs, Finland c Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, PO Box 65 (Biocentre 3, Viikinkaari 1), FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland

Address correspondence to P. Waldeck. E-mail: peter.waldeck{at}zool.gu.se.


  Abstract

The spatial structure of relatedness between individuals in a population can be crucial for social selection and evolution. Here we analyze a female alternative reproductive tactic, conspecific brood parasitism, in relation to spatial relatedness among females in a Baltic Sea population of the common eider Somateria mollissima. The role of relatedness in brood parasitism is debated: some models predict parasite avoidance of related hosts, others predict host–parasite relatedness. We estimate pairwise relatedness from protein fingerprinting of egg albumen in 156 nests, with pairwise nest distances ranging from 1 to 6 km. Relatedness increases significantly from the longest distances to an average of r {approx} 0.09 below 20 m. Brood parasitism is common, and average pairwise relatedness between host and parasite is estimated at 0.18–0.21. Parasites thus do not avoid relatives, and combined with the findings of a similar study in another eider population, the results show that mean host–parasite relatedness is higher than that among close neighbors. High host–parasite relatedness is therefore not an effect of natal philopatry alone; some other form of kin bias is also involved. Recognition and association between birth nest mates is a candidate mechanism for further study.

Key words: joint nesting, kinship, local genetic structure, protein fingerprinting, spatial trend analysis.

Received 26 October 2006; revised 1 August 2007; accepted 23 September 2007.


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