Avian Egg Timers: Female Cowbirds Judge Past, Present, and Future When Making Nest Parasitism Decisions
Avian Egg Timers: Female Cowbirds Judge Past, Present, and Future When Making Nest Parasitism Decisions
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鸟类产卵定时器：雌性牛鹂在做出巢寄生决定时判断过去、现在和未来
DOI：
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发表时间：
2020
影响因子：
3
通讯作者：
D. White
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
D. White
与育雏寄生相关的认知需求是巨大的。雌性寄生虫不仅要确定巢穴的位置并评估其是否适合寄生，还必须根据宿主的繁殖行为确定寄生时间。跟踪各种巢穴的宿主的生殖状态，使寄生虫能够选择一个可以成功孵化卵的巢穴。因此，巢选择决定是必不可少的专性育雏寄生虫的繁殖成功。在圈养繁殖群的褐头燕八哥（Molothrus ater），我提供女性访问模拟巢，不同的鸡蛋数量存在。通过改变几天内添加到巢中的蛋的数量，我研究了（1）雌性的能力，时间主机巢的准备寄生和（2）雌性的巢选择决定的时间。我发现燕八哥可以注意到从一个宿主蛋被添加到一个巢中以来所经过的时间，并可以利用这些信息来选择一个巢进行寄生。雌性在产卵前一天勘探时选择了巢穴，一旦决定，它们就不会在产卵当天更新它们的决定。两者合计，结果表明，女性燕八哥处理大量的信息的位置，时间，数量和速度，以计划未来的寄生。这项研究表明，物种典型的决策整合了各种一般和专门的认知能力，使女性的行为适应性和最大限度地提高生殖成功。
The cognitive demands associated with brood parasitism are substantial. Not only must female parasites locate nests and assess their suitability for parasitism, they must also time parasitism to correspond with the breeding behavior of the host. Keeping track of the reproductive state of hosts for a variety of nests allows the parasite to select a nest where their egg can be incubated successfully. Thus, nest selection decisions are integral to obligate brood parasites’ reproductive success. In captive breeding flocks of brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater), I provided females access to mock nests that varied in the number of eggs present. By changing the number of eggs added to nests across days, I studied (1) females’ abilities to time a host nest’s readiness for parasitism and (2) the timing of females’ nest selection decisions. I found that cowbirds can attend to the amount of time that elapsed since a host egg was added to a nest and can use that information to choose a nest for parasitism. Females made their choice of nest during prospecting the day before they laid, and, once decided, they did not update their decisions on the day of laying. Taken together, the results reveal that female cowbirds process substantial amounts of information about location, time, number, and rate in order to plan for future parasitism. This research program reveals that species-typical decisions integrate a variety of general and specialized cognitive abilities to allow females to behave adaptively and maximize reproductive success.