Adjustment of incubation according to the threat posed: a further signal of enemy recognition in the Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla?

0323128 - ÚBO 2010 RIV DE eng J - Článek v odborném periodiku
Požgayová, Milica - Procházka, Petr - Honza, Marcel
Adjustment of incubation according to the threat posed: a further signal of enemy recognition in the Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla?
Journal of Ornithology. Roč. 150, č. 3 (2009), s. 569-576. ISSN 0021-8375. E-ISSN 1439-0361
Grant CEP: GA AV ČR IAA600930605; GA ČR(CZ) GD524/05/H536; GA MŠMT LC06073
Výzkumný záměr: CEZ:AV0Z60930519
Klíčová slova: aggression * brood parasitism * nest attendance * nest defence * nest predation
Kód oboru RIV: EG - Zoologie
Impakt faktor: 1.476, rok: 2009

Here we address the question of whether Blackcaps change their incubation behaviour in response to various nest intruders and whether this matches the intensity of mobbing. Near focal nests, we successively exposed a dummy of a brood parasite, nest predator and a control. After the parents had responded, we removed the dummy and filmed their incubation. The most aggressive response towards the Cuckoo and high nest attendance after its disappearance indicated recognition of the brood parasite. Low-intensity response to the Jay, together with reduced subsequent parental care, suggested that Blackcaps perceived it either as less deleterious at the egg stage than the Cuckoo or as a danger to themselves. Almost no aggression towards the Turtle Dove and the resumption of incubation after its removal, implied that Blackcaps recognised it as harmless. Our results demonstrate that the issue of enemy recognition may be viewed as a complex of both aggressive and postpresentation behaviours.
Trvalý link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0171185