Climatic variability and latitudinal patterns in breeding phenology of an obligate brood parasite

Current climate change is having impacts across trophic chains and the interactions among parasites and their hosts are likely to be affected as well. In addition, the rate of temperature rise is not spatially coherent and this provides a good opportunity to study the spatial nature of the host-parasite interactions under locally characteristic climate change settings. In this project I use a brood parasitic bird, the Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), as a model species to investigate both temporal (coveri ng a time span of ca 150 years) and spatial (covering the entire Europe) variation in its reproductive phenology in a variety of its avian hosts. I will draw on a unique collaborative dataset of all known cases (over 30 000 records) of Cuckoo parasitism i n Europe. The outcome of this collaborative project with Norwegian and French partners would be a detailed analysis of the role of climate variability on timing of the parasite's breeding season and an evaluation of the hypothesis that reproductive isolat ion by different Cuckoo gentes might be facilitated by timing of the hosts breeding seasons. These results would represent an important contribution to our understanding of host-parasite interactions under the ongoing climate change.