Number of the records: 1  

Choosing suitable hosts: common cuckoos Cuculus canorus parasitize great reed warblers Acrocephalus arundinaceus of high quality

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    SYSNO ASEP0311392
    Document TypeJ - Journal Article
    R&D Document TypeJournal Article
    Subsidiary JČlánek ve WOS
    TitleChoosing suitable hosts: common cuckoos Cuculus canorus parasitize great reed warblers Acrocephalus arundinaceus of high quality
    TitleVýběr vhodných hostitelů: kukačky obecné Cuculus canorus parazitují kvalitní rákosníky velké Acrocephalus arundinaceus
    Author(s) Polačiková, Lenka (UBO-W) RID, SAI
    Procházka, Petr (UBO-W) RID, ORCID, SAI
    Cherry, M. I. (ZA)
    Honza, Marcel (UBO-W) RID, SAI, ORCID
    Source TitleEvolutionary Ecology. - : Springer - ISSN 0269-7653
    Roč. 23, č. 6 (2009), s. 879-891
    Number of pages13 s.
    Languageeng - English
    CountryNL - Netherlands
    KeywordsBrood parasitism ; Cuckoo ; Host quality ; Host selection ; Spectrophotometry
    Subject RIVEH - Ecology, Behaviour
    R&D ProjectsGD524/05/H536 GA ČR - Czech Science Foundation (CSF)
    IAA600930605 GA AV ČR - Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (AV ČR)
    LC06073 GA MŠMT - Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS)
    CEZAV0Z60930519 - UBO-W (2005-2011)
    UT WOS000271949700004
    EID SCOPUS70450149872
    DOI10.1007/s10682-008-9278-9
    AnnotationWe investigated the hypothesis that the common cuckoo selects host pairs of good phenotypic quality. As cuckoos may select hosts within a population non-randomly based on external cues reflecting their foster abilities, we predicted that great reed warbler pairs parasitized by the cuckoo would exhibit higher quality than unparasitized ones. We evaluated two different parameters indicating host quality: body condition and characteristics of host eggs. We found that parasitized females showed significantly better body condition. Moreover, the likelihood of being parasitized increased with decreasing colour variability within clutches: parasitized females allocated costly blue pigments to eggshells more equally compared with unparasitized ones. In highly mimetic systems, cuckoos may choose to parasitize hosts with eggs displaying low intraclutch variation, both because this leads to reduced rejection and because these hosts are of high quality.
    WorkplaceInstitute of Vertebrate Biology
    ContactHana Slabáková, slabakova@ivb.cz, Tel.: 543 422 524
    Year of Publishing2010
Number of the records: 1  

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