Experimental shifts in intraclutch egg color variation do not affect egg rejection in a host of a non-egg-mimetic avian brood parasite.

ABSTRACT: Avian brood parasites lay their eggs in the nests of other birds, and impose the costs associated with rearing parasitic young onto these hosts. Many hosts of brood parasites defend against parasitism by removing foreign eggs from the nest. In systems where parasitic eggs mimic host eggs in coloration and patterning, extensive intraclutch variation in egg appearances may impair the host's ability to recognize and reject parasitic eggs, but experimental investigation of this effect has produced conflicting results. The cognitive mechanism by which hosts recognize parasitic eggs may vary across brood parasite hosts, and this may explain variation in experimental outcome across studies investigating egg rejection in hosts of egg-mimicking brood parasites. In contrast, for hosts of non-egg-mim

SUBMITTER: Croston R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4382172 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature