Contrasting effects of egg size and appearance on egg recognition and rejection response by Oriental reed warblers

Li, Donglai; Li, Xiaoshuang; Zhang, Yan; Guan, Shuang; Ruan, Yuhua

doi:10.1002/ece3.6707

Cited by 6 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…In this study, Oriental Reed Warblers, as one of the most common hosts of cuckoos, have a nearly 100% rejection rate for non-mimetic eggs, similar to the population in northeastern China, which rejected both blue (n = 15) and white (n = 24) model eggs at a rate of 100% (Wang et al 2021) and the Japanese population (94%, n = 33; Lotem et al 1995), suggesting that the Oriental Reed Warbler possesses an extremely strong egg recognition ability. However, egg rejection of another population of Oriental Reed Warblers (Li et al 2016(Li et al , 2020 was slightly lower than that of this population, possibly because the material and size of experimental eggs used may influence on the host's completion of egg rejection (Roncalli et al 2017;Li et al 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 69%

Egg rejection and egg recognition mechanisms in Oriental Reed Warblers

Liang

2021

Avian Res

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Background Nest parasitism by cuckoos (Cuculus spp.) results in enormous reproductive failure and forces hosts to evolve antiparasitic strategies, i.e., recognition of own eggs and rejection of cuckoo eggs. There are often sexual conflicts between male and female individuals in the expression of antiparasitic behavior due to the differences in reproductive inputs and division of labor. Methods By adding a foreign egg made of blue soft clay to the host nest during early incubation period in the field, and by removing several host eggs and adding experimental eggs to control the proportion of two egg types in the nest, we examined egg rejection ability, egg recognition mechanism and sexual difference in egg rejection of the Oriental Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus orientalis), one of the major hosts of Common Cuckoos (Cuculus canorus). Results Our results indicated that Oriental Reed Warblers can recognize and reject nearly 100% (73/75) of the non-mimetic eggs made of blue soft clay, and they could reject foreign eggs with 100% accuracy, regardless of the ratio of experimental eggs and its own eggs in the nest. Furthermore, all cases of egg rejections recorded by videos were only carried out by females. Conclusions Oriental Reed Warblers have a high egg recognition ability and show a true recognition mechanism. Only female warblers perform egg rejection, suggesting that the sex for host egg incubation seems to play an important role in the evolution of egg recognition mechanisms.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 69%

Egg rejection and egg recognition mechanisms in Oriental Reed Warblers

Liang

2021

Avian Res

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“…In general, egg color and maculation are the main cues used by bird hosts to recognize alien eggs, 28,29 but their relative contributions to the recognition process varies among hosts. 5,31 In this study, increasing the maculation density had no effect on egg recognition, while changing the egg ground color significantly increased the rejection rate.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…4,[24][25][26] Among the recognition cues, egg color and maculation are most important in the process of host egg recognition. [27][28][29][30] Rothstein 11 studied the relative effects of egg color, maculation, and size on egg recognition in the American robin (Turdus migratorius) and found that the host rejects model eggs differing in at least two characteristics from its own eggs. Luro et al 29 replicated this study, confirmed most of the original findings and showed that egg size is less predictive than other characteristics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parasite egg recognition based on multicomponent cues by green-backed tits (Parus monticolus)

Yan

Yao

et al. 2021

Avian Biology Research

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Egg recognition and rejection is a common and effective anti-parasitism adaptation in bird hosts. Hosts reject alien eggs using recognition signals such as egg ground color and maculation. Green-backed tits ( Parus monticolus) have a highly developed capability for recognizing parasite eggs, but the cues used for egg recognition are unclear. We combined avian visual perceptual modeling and field experiments to explore the effects of egg ground color and maculation on the recognition of parasite eggs. P. monticolus uses a multi-cue with possible hierarchical mechanism for egg recognition. The mechanism of egg recognition in P. monticolus appears to be a specific adaptation to the phenotypes of eggs laid by local brood parasites.

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“…We selected blue color for the experimental eggs because this is a conspicuous color unlike the egg color of the tested hosts. In addition, blue model eggs better mimic the ultraviolet part of the spectrum of host eggs and appear more likely to the green‐blue background of the natural eggs of Acrocephalus warblers than, for example, brown spotted eggs (Li et al, 2020). We did not use a control (simulated debris) to test whether the observed egg rejection rate was a result of the nest sanitation behavior of hosts or a defense against brood parasitism since hosts including the great reed warbler and Oriental reed warbler generally consider artificial egg‐shaped objects to be eggs (see also Honza & Moskát, 2008; Li et al, 2020; Ma & Liang, 2021; Moskát et al, 2002).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Site and General Field Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Defense behavior of two closely related but geographically distant host species against cuckoo parasitism: A next test for the parallel coevolution

Trnka

Yan

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

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Interactions between avian brood parasites, such as common cuckoos (Cuculus canorus), and their hosts are one of the best-studied examples of the coevolutionary arms race. Different stages of this arms race can be seen in different races of common cuckoos and their hosts across their range. However, little is known whether selected populations of two closely related but geographically distant species with probably different coevolutionary histories with the common cuckoo are also at different stages of the arms race. In this study, we tested this prediction experimentally using the same non-mimetic model eggs and three-dimensional (3D) printed models of the gray adult common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). We examined egg recognition and egg rejection and aggression against the common cuckoo in the great reed warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) and Oriental reed warbler (Acrocephalus orientalis), in Slovakia of Europe and northeast China of Asia. The results showed that the great reed warbler exhibited stronger responses to experimental model eggs and 3D models of the common cuckoo than the Oriental reed warbler. We conclude that both the great reed warbler and Oriental reed warbler have well-developed antiparasitic behaviors against common cuckoos in the studied populations, but with different levels of defense intensity, which may be due to local differences in parasitic pressure and the risk of parasitism.This provides an opportunity to study coevolutionary processes between the brood parasite and its hosts together in both species at large geographical scales.

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Contrasting effects of egg size and appearance on egg recognition and rejection response by Oriental reed warblers

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 6 publications

References 60 publications

Egg rejection and egg recognition mechanisms in Oriental Reed Warblers

Egg rejection and egg recognition mechanisms in Oriental Reed Warblers

Parasite egg recognition based on multicomponent cues by green-backed tits (Parus monticolus)

Defense behavior of two closely related but geographically distant host species against cuckoo parasitism: A next test for the parallel coevolution

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