Nest sanitation behavior does not increase the likelihood of parasitic egg rejection in herring gulls.

ABSTRACT: Birds' behavioral response to brood parasitism can be influenced not only by evolution but also by context and individual experience. This could include nest sanitation, in which birds remove debris from their nests. Ultimately, nest sanitation behavior might be an evolutionary precursor to the rejection of parasitic eggs. Proximately, the context or experience of performing nest sanitation behavior might increase the detection or prime the removal of parasitic eggs, but evidence to date is limited. We tested incubation-stage nests of herring gulls Larus argentatus to ask whether nest sanitation increased parasitic egg rejection. In an initial set of 160 single-object experiments, small, red, blocky objects were usually rejected (18 of 20 nests), whereas life-sized, 3D-printed herri

SUBMITTER: Stratton JB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8599063 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature