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23 results for “Egg Rejection”
Visual complexity of egg patterns predicts egg rejection according to Weber's law
<p>Visual complexity is ubiquitous in nature. Drivers of complexity include selection in coevolutionary arms races between antagonists. However, the causes and consequences of biological complexity and its perception are largely understudied, partly because complexity is difficult to quantify. Here, we address this by studying egg pattern complexity and its perception in hosts (tawny-flanked prinia <em>Prinia subflava</em> ), which visually recognize and reject mimetic eggs of their virulent brood parasite (cuckoo finch <em>Anomalospiza imberbis</em> ). Using field data and an optimization algorithm, we compute a complexity metric which predicts rejection of experimentally placed conspecific eggs in prinia nests. Real cuckoo finch eggs exhibit significantly lower pattern complexity than prinia eggs, suggesting that high complexity benefits hosts because it distinguishes host eggs from parasitic eggs. We show that prinias perceive complexity differences according to Weber's law of proportional processing (i.e. relative, rather than absolute, differences between stimuli are processed in discrimination, such that two eggs with simple patterns are more easily discriminable than two with complex patterns). This may influence coevolutionary trajectories of hosts and parasites. The new methods presented for quantifying complexity and its perception can help us to understand selection pressures driving the evolution of complexity and its consequences for species interactions.</p>
Fig. 1 in Natural And Artificial Scents Do Not Increase Egg Rejection Rates Of Model Brood Parasitic Eggs By American Robins (Turdus Migratorius)
Fig. 1. Experimental clutches of American Robins, each with a robin-blue (mimetic; left) or a deep-blue (non-mimetic; right) model egg 3D printed in the size, shape, and weight of
Data for: Shy-boldness cannot predict egg rejection in the Japanese tit
<p><span>In response to brood parasitism, which significantly reduces the reproductive success of avian hosts, hosts have evolved the ability to recognize and reject parasitic eggs. Many studies have revealed the influencing factors of egg recognition and egg rejection, and recent study found that host personality, along the bold-shy continuum, can influence egg rejection behavior. In addition, the egg rejection behavior of hosts differed among populations, suggesting that individuals with different personalities may evolve various adaptive behaviors under different parasitic pressures, but there has been few relevant experiments to verify this. In the present study, two populations of the Japanese tit <em>Parus minor</em> distributed in China were used to examine whether there were differences in egg rejection behavior of individuals with different personalities. The results showed that egg rejection rates of bold individuals (who remained in the nest box when encountering human invaders) and shy individuals (who immediately flew away from the nest box when encountering human invaders) were similar in both populations of the Japanese tit, and there were also no significant differences in egg rejection rates between individuals of the same personality in the two populations. This study suggests that host personality, along the bold-shy continuum, does not account for egg rejection behavior in the Japanese tits. This may be due to either other factors that affect egg rejection behavior counteracting the effect of personality, or the presence of multiple personalities that act together in the Japanese tits counteracting the effect of a single personality trait.</span></p>
Visual complexity of egg patterns predicts egg rejection according to Weber's law
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Data for: Shy-boldness cannot predict egg rejection in the Japanese tit
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Endocrine regulation of egg rejection in an avian brood parasite host
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Parasite-host coevolution can lead to novel behavioural adaptations in hosts to resist parasitism. In avian obligate brood parasite and host systems, many hosts species have evolved diverse cognitive and behavioural traits to recognize and reject parasitic eggs. Our understanding of the evolution and ecology of these defences hinges on our understanding of the mechanisms that regulate them. We hypothesized that corticosterone, a hormone linked to the stress-response, vigilance, and the suppression of parental behaviour, stimulates the rejection of foreign eggs by brood parasite hosts. We experimentally reduced circulating glucocorticoid levels with mitotane injections in American robins <i>Turdus migratorius</i> and found that the mitotane-treated birds rejected foreign eggs at a lower frequency compared to the sham-treated subjects. This is the first study to causally identify a potential mechanism of a widespread defence behaviour, and it is consistent with egg rejection being mediated by stress physiology.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
Data for: Egg mimicry, not the sight of a common cuckoo, is the cue for parasitic egg rejection
<p>Many studies have found that if hosts observe a brood parasite at their nest, they use it as a cue to reject parasitic eggs. However, most previous work has simulated brood parasitic events by exposing a stuffed parasite near a host's nest. Responses to the presence of a real parasite have not yet been adequately studied under natural conditions. We therefore investigated whether great reed warblers (<em>Acrocephalus arundinaceus</em>) are more likely to reject a parasitic egg if they see a parasitizing common cuckoo (<em>Cuculus canorus</em>) at their nest than if the parasite approaches host nest unnoticed. Using video recordings of 70 nests we showed that spotting a cuckoo at the nest did not increase rejection rate of parasitic eggs, even if hosts saw the cuckoo repeatedly. Hosts instead used the level of mimicry in background colour for cuckoo egg rejection. Since not every visit by the cuckoo leads to parasitism, seeing the brood parasite may not be a reliable enough cue for the host. Therefore, our results suggest that the sight of the brood parasite at the nest may not be as important as previously thought.</p>
Data for: Environmentally-driven escalation of host egg-rejection decimates success of an avian brood parasite
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Data for: Egg mimicry, not the sight of a common cuckoo, is the cue for parasitic egg rejection
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Endocrine regulation of egg rejection in an avian brood parasite host
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Data from: Does the house sparrow Passer domesticus represent a global model species for egg rejection behavior?
Conspecific brood parasitism (CP) is a facultative breeding tactic whereby females lay their eggs in the nests of conspecifics. In some species, potential host individuals have evolved the ability to identify and reject foreign eggs from their nest. Previous studies suggest that the ubiquitous House Sparrow Passer domesticus in Spain and South Africa employs both CP and parasitic egg rejection, while a population in China does not. Given the species' invasive range expansions, the House Sparrow represents a potentially excellent global model system for egg rejection across variable ecological conditions. The present study examines House Sparrow responses to experimental parasitism at three geographically distinct locations (in Israel, North America, and New Zealand) to provide a robust test of how general the findings of the previous studies are. In all three geographic regions egg rejection rates were negligible and not statistically different from background rates of disappearance of control eggs, suggesting that the House Sparrow is not a suitable model species for egg rejection experiments on a global scale.
Data from: Cuckoo parasitism in a cavity nesting host: near absent egg-rejection in a northern redstart population under heavy apparent (but low effective) brood parasitism
Brood parasite - host systems continue to offer insights into species coevolution. A notable system is the redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus parasitized by the "redstart-cuckoo" Cuculus canorus gens. Redstarts are the only regular cuckoo hosts that breed in cavities, which challenges adult cuckoos in egg laying and cuckoo chicks in host eviction. We investigated parasitism in this system and found high overall parasitism rates (31.1% of 360 redstart nests), but also that only 33.1% of parasitism events (49 of 148 eggs) were successful in laying eggs into redstart nest cups. The majority of cuckoo eggs were mislaid and found on the rim of the nest; outside the nest cup. All available evidence suggests these eggs were not ejected by hosts. The effective parasitism rate was therefore only 12.8% of redstart nests. Redstarts responded to natural parasitism by deserting their nests in 13.0% of cases, compared to desertion rates of 2.8% for non-parasitized nests. Our egg parasitism experiments found low rates (12.2%) of rejection of artificial non-mimetic cuckoo eggs. Artificial mimetic and real cuckoo eggs added to nests were rejected at even lower rates, and were always rejected via desertion. Under natural conditions, only 21 cuckoo chicks fledged of 150 cuckoo eggs laid. Adding to this low success, is that cuckoo chicks are sometimes unable to evict all host young, and were more likely to die as a result compared to cuckoo chicks reared alone. This low success seems to be mainly due to the cavity nesting strategy of the redstart which is a challenging obstacle for the cuckoo. The redstart-cuckoo system appears to be a fruitful model system and we suggest much more emphasis should be placed on frontline defences such as nest site selection strategies when investigating brood parasite-host coevolution.
Data from: Egg rejection and clutch phenotype variation in the plain prinia (Prinia inornata)
Avian hosts of brood parasites can evolve anti-parasitic defenses to recognize and reject foreign eggs from their nests. Theory predicts that higher inter-clutch and lower intra-clutch variation in egg appearance facilitates hosts to detect parasitic eggs as egg-rejection mainly depends on the appearance of the egg. Therefore, we predict that egg patterns and rejection rates will differ when hosts face different intensity of cuckoo parasitism. We tested this prediction in two populations of the plain prinia (Prinia inornata): Guangxi in mainland China with high diversity and density of cuckoo species, and Taiwan where there is only one breeding cuckoo species, the Oriental cuckoo (Cuculus optatus). As expected, egg patterns were similar within clutches but different among clutches (polymorphic eggs) in the mainland population, while the island population produced more uniform egg morphs. Furthermore, the mainland population showed a high rate of egg rejection, while the island population exhibited dramatically reduced egg grasp-rejection ability in the absence of parasitism by the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). Our study suggests that prinias show lower intra-clutch consistency in egg colour and lose egg-rejecting ability under relaxed selection pressure from brood parasitism.
Contrasting effects of egg size and appearance on egg recognition and rejection response by Oriental reed warblers
<p>Among potential hosts, the rejection of foreign eggs, which is a common and effective strategy to counter brood parasitism, depends on egg recognition. Multi-modal and multi-component recognition cues of brood parasitic eggs, which include both tactile (size, shape, and texture) and visual (size, shape, color, and maculation) cues, are potentially involved in the perception and discrimination of foreign eggs by hosts. An egg rejection experiment on the host with different types of model eggs can help to accurately assess the relative contribution of different components on egg recognition and constraints to rejection, in which videos can help identify the method of host rejection. Here, we assessed egg recognition and rejection responses by Oriental reed warblers (<i>Acrocephalus orientalis</i>), one of the most common hosts of common cuckoos (<i>Cuculus canorus</i>) which breed in eastern China. We designed six groups of model eggs for rejection experiments in which sensory cues included three grades of size and two categories of visual mimicry. Our experiments confirmed that the multi-modal traits, which included variation in size, were significant predictors of egg rejection: we detected significantly higher rejection rates of mimetic spotted model eggs than of non-mimetic blue eggs. However, large model eggs did not yield higher rejection rates and, instead, these were less likely to be rejected and more likely to be deserted compared with smaller eggs. Further video-recording data showed that there was no significant effect of egg size on the egg recognition rate (percentage of nests with evidence of egg-pecking). No evidence that the egg appearance had an effect on the method of egg rejection (ejection or nest desertion) was found. Only visual signals, such as color and maculation, contributed to the recognition of foreign eggs by Oriental reed warblers as recognizable clues, but not the egg size. The egg size had an impact on the type of egg rejection. It was less feasible for the warblers to eject large eggs and that is why they opted more often for desertion as the mean of model egg rejection. The significantly lower egg rejection rate of large eggs suggested that although some of them were recognized as foreign eggs, hosts failed to reject these eggs and finally the eggs were assumed to being accepted by the commonly-used nest-checking methods.</p>
Data from: Does the house sparrow Passer domesticus represent a global model species for egg rejection behavior?
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Data from: Cuckoo hosts shift from accepting to rejecting parasitic eggs across their lifetime
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Contrasting effects of egg size and appearance on egg recognition and rejection response by Oriental reed warblers
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Data from: Cuckoo parasitism in a cavity nesting host: near absent egg-rejection in a northern redstart population under heavy apparent (but low effective) brood parasitism
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Data from: Egg rejection and clutch phenotype variation in the plain prinia (Prinia inornata)
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Age-related brood parasitism and egg rejection in magpie hosts
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