Brood parasites lay eggs matching the appearance of host clutches
Brood parasites lay eggs matching the appearance of host clutches
复制标题
DOI：
10.1098/rspb.2013.2665
复制
发表时间：
2014-01-07
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Prochazka, Petr
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Honza, Marcel;Sulc, Michal;Prochazka, Petr
种间育雏寄生是共同进化军备竞赛的一个典型例子，在这种竞赛中，每一方都进化出了回应另一方的策略。在这里，我们调查是否常见的杜鹃（Cuculus canorus）积极选择巢内的主机人口，以匹配一个特定的主机离合器的鸡蛋外观。为了实现这一目标，我们使用鸟类视觉建模方法量化了鸡蛋匹配的程度。随机化试验表明，杜鹃蛋在自然寄生的巢表现出较低的色彩对比度主机蛋比那些随机分配到其他巢产卵日期类似于自然寄生离合器。此外，蛋匹配的色度是更好的自然寄生巢比它会在最近的活跃的非寄生邻居的巢。然而，没有任何迹象表明在消色差光谱特性匹配。因此，我们的研究结果清楚地表明，杜鹃选择某些主机巢，以增加匹配自己的鸡蛋与主机离合器，但只有在色彩特征。我们的研究结果表明，杜鹃的能力，积极选择主机巢的蛋壳外观的基础上施加了强大的选择压力主机蛋识别。
Interspecific brood parasitism represents a prime example of the coevolutionary arms race where each party has evolved strategies in response to the other. Here, we investigated whether common cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) actively select nests within a host population to match the egg appearance of a particular host clutch. To achieve this goal, we quantified the degree of egg matching using the avian vision modelling approach. Randomization tests revealed that cuckoo eggs in naturally parasitized nests showed lower chromatic contrast to host eggs than those assigned randomly to other nests with egg-laying date similar to naturally parasitized clutches. Moreover, egg matching in terms of chromaticity was better in naturally parasitized nests than it would be in the nests of the nearest active non-parasitized neighbour. However, there was no indication of matching in achromatic spectral characteristics whatsoever. Thus, our results clearly indicate that cuckoos select certain host nests to increase matching of their own eggs with host clutches, but only in chromatic characteristics. Our results suggest that the ability of cuckoos to actively choose host nests based on the eggshell appearance imposes a strong selection pressure on host egg recognition.