Cuckoo - host coevolution: a model system for investigating the impact of climate change on interspecific interactions and biodiversity

Climate change is driving widespread alterations to species phenologies. However, phenological shifts are often unequal across different trophic levels and between different life history strategies, resulting in phenological mismatches between closely interacting species. We will use an unusually tractable and informative model system to assess the impact on closely interacting species of phenological mismatches and changes in distribution due to climate change. The cuckoo-host system we propose is of special interest because it sheds light on coevolutionary forces that may lead to either the reduction (via extinction) or enhancement (via speciation) of biodiversity.