Shiny Cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis) brood parasitism occurrence and impact increases with decreasing forest cover

Abstract

Cowbirds brood parasitism has a detrimental effect on the breeding success of their hosts. The occurrence of parasitism observed may be related to environmental features at landscape or nest-site scales. Such relationships have been assessed for the Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) in the large forests of the northern hemisphere. Here, we present a study conducted on the Shiny Cowbird (M. bonariensis) in native forests of the southern hemisphere in Argentina. These forests are characterised as semi-open woodlands, with forest fragments of variable sizes immersed in native grasslands. We aimed to evaluate the effect of Shiny Cowbird brood parasitism on the breeding success of a native passerine, the Masked Gnatcatcher (Polioptila dumicola), and to assess the relationship of its occurrence with environmental features at landscape and nest-site scales. During three breeding seasons (2015–2018) we monitored 207 gnatcatcher nests of which 70 were parasitised. Brood parasitism was the cause of nest failure in 60% of the parasitised nests. In addition, breeding success measured by apparent nest success, egg survival, hatching success and nestling survival were significantly lower for parasitised nests than for non-parasitised nests. Brood parasitism occurrence was negatively associated with forest cover, where nests located in sites with less forest cover experienced a higher occurrence of parasitism than those with greater cover. As these native semi-open forests face a continuous decline, our results add to the evidence of negative impacts of deforestation.