Experimental shift in hosts' acceptance threshold of inaccurate-mimic brood parasite eggs

Mark E Hauber; Csaba Moskát; Miklós Bán

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2005.0438

journal article Jan 17, 2006

Experimental shift in hosts' acceptance threshold of inaccurate-mimic brood parasite eggs

Mark E Hauber

Csaba Moskát

Miklós Bán

Biology Letters Vol. 2 No. 2 pp. 177-180 · The Royal Society

View at Publisher Save 10.1098/rsbl.2005.0438

Abstract

Abstract
Hosts are expected to evolve resistance strategies that efficiently detect and resist exposure to virulent parasites and pathogens. When recognition is not error-proof, the acceptance threshold used by hosts to recognize parasites should be context dependent and become more restrictive with increasing predictability of parasitism. Here, we demonstrate that decisions of great reed warblers Acrocephalus arundinaceus to reject parasitism by the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus vary adaptively within a single egg-laying bout. Hosts typically accept one of their own eggs with experimentally added spots and the background colour left visible. In contrast, hosts reject such spotted eggs when individuals had been previously exposed to and rejected one of their own eggs whose background colour had been entirely masked. These results support patterns of adaptive modulation of antiparasitic strategies through shifts in the acceptance threshold of hosts and suggest a critical role for experience in the discrimination decisions between inaccurate-mimic parasite eggs and hosts' own eggs.

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References

Details

Published: Jan 17, 2006
Vol/Issue: 2(2)
Pages: 177-180
License: View

Authors

M

Mark E Hauber

PB 92019 Auckland, New Zealand 1

C

Csaba Moskát

Hungarian Natural History Museum, Ludovika tér 2, 1083 Budapest, Hungary 2

M

Miklós Bán

Debrecen 4010, Hungary 3

Cite This Article

Mark E Hauber, Csaba Moskát, Miklós Bán (2006). Experimental shift in hosts' acceptance threshold of inaccurate-mimic brood parasite eggs. Biology Letters, 2(2), 177-180. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0438

Experimental shift in hosts' acceptance threshold of inaccurate-mimic brood parasite eggs

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