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Closer clutch inspection—quicker egg ejection: timing of host responses toward parasitic eggs

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    0348342 - ÚBO 2012 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
    Požgayová, Milica - Procházka, Petr - Polačiková, Lenka - Honza, Marcel
    Closer clutch inspection—quicker egg ejection: timing of host responses toward parasitic eggs.
    Behavioral Ecology. Roč. 22, č. 1 (2011), s. 46-51. ISSN 1045-2249. E-ISSN 1465-7279
    R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA600930605; GA AV ČR IAA600930903; GA ČR(CZ) GD524/05/H536; GA MŠMT LC06073
    Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60930519
    Keywords : Acrocephalus arundinaceus * brood parasitism * egg discrimination * egg ejection time * great reed warbler * nest inspection
    Subject RIV: EG - Zoology
    Impact factor: 3.083, year: 2011

    The prevalent host defense against brood parasitism is egg discrimination. The focus of the present study was to investigate factors responsible for high variation in timing of host egg rejection. We presented a cuckoo dummy near great reed warbler nests and experimentally parasitized the clutches with a nonmimetic egg. Immediately afterward, we video recorded host behavior to determine egg ejection times. We fitted a regression tree model with the timing of egg ejection as a dependent variable and female-related characteristics as explanatory variables. Only female behavior toward the foreign egg proved to have a significant effect on the timing of egg ejection. Females devoting more time to clutch inspection ejected the egg more quickly than females inspecting their clutches only briefly. We discuss our results in the context of known intra- and interspecific differences in host response times toward alien eggs and cognitive mechanisms involved in host egg discrimination processes.
    Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0188897

     
     
Number of the records: 1  

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