Geographic variation in egg ejection rate by great tits across 2 continents

Liang, Wei; Møller, Anders Pape; Stokke, Bård G.; Yang, Canchao; Kovařík, Petr; Wang, Haitao; Yao, Cheng‐Te; Ding, Ping; Lü, Xin; Moksnes, Arne; Røskaft, Eivin; Grim, Tomáš

doi:10.1093/beheco/arw061

Cited by 47 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Therefore, great tits perhaps have little experience interacting with the common cuckoo. Even if the common cuckoo could enter a great tits nest, tits have the ability to reject unfamiliar eggs to avoid being parasitized in China (Liang et al., ). The common cuckoo seems not to either constitute a physical or a parasitism threat to great tits.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Great tits Parus major have only in a few cases been found to be parasitized (Liang et al., ), and this species has traditionally been considered unsuitable as a host for cuckoos (e.g., Moksnes et al., ). Davies and Welbergen () conducted an experiment in Europe to test the ability of great tits to distinguish between common cuckoos and sparrowhawks outside the breeding season, and they found that great tits responded similarly to them.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Alarm call‐based discrimination between common cuckoo and Eurasian sparrowhawk in a Chinese population of great tits

Xing

Jiang

et al. 2017

Ethology

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Morphological resemblance of the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus to the Eurasian sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus has been regarded as an example of predator mimicry. Common hosts could distinguish parasites as the result of coevolution, while rare hosts or nonhosts may mistake cuckoos for hawks because rare hosts or non-hosts behave similarly when faced with these two species. Birds usually produce alarm calls in addition to showing behavioral responses when in danger. However, previous studies of identification by rare hosts or non-hosts of sparrowhawks usually lacked experimental evidence of alarm calls. Great tits Parus major, a rare cuckoo host, perform similar behaviors and usually produce alarm calls in response to sparrowhawks and common cuckoos. Here, we tested whether great tits could distinguish common cuckoo from sparrowhawk based on analysis of their alarm calls and the effects of playback of alarm calls on conspecific behavior. Previous studies showed that great tits have a complex communication system that conveys information about predators, and they could perform different kinds of response behavior to different alarm calls. If great tits have not made the ability to distinguish between common cuckoo and sparrowhawk, then their acoustic responses to these two species and their response behaviors in playback experiments should be similar. Specimens of a common cuckoo (parasite), a sparrowhawk (predator) and an Oriental turtle dove Streptopelia orientalis (harmless control) were used to elicit and subsequently record the response behavior and alarm calls of great tits. There was no significant difference in behavioral response among great tits when exposed to the dummy of cuckoo, sparrowhawk and dove. In contrast, they differed significantly in alarm calls. Great tits produced more notes per call that contained increasing D-type and decreasing I-type notes when responding to sparrowhawk as compared to cuckoo or dove. In playback experiments, we found that great tits responded more strongly to great tit hawk than to great tit cuckoo or great tit dove alarm calls. Our study suggests that great tits are able to distinguish sparrowhawks from common cuckoos and convey relevant information in alarm calls by adjusting the number and combinations of notes of a single call type. K E Y W O R D Salarm call, cuckoo-hawk mimicry, great tit, parasite, playback, predator 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.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alarm call‐based discrimination between common cuckoo and Eurasian sparrowhawk in a Chinese population of great tits

Xing

Jiang

et al. 2017

Ethology

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“…and flycatchers (Ficedula spp.) (Deng 2013;Grim et al 2014;Liang et al 2016). Therefore, all the current explanations cannot resolve why sparrows have never been utilized as hosts by any parasitic cuckoo, even though they are abundant and widespread.…”

Section: Open Accessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Russet Sparrows spot alien chicks from their nests

Huo

Yang

et al. 2018

Avian Res

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Background:In coevolutionary interactions between brood parasites and their hosts, host parents are under strong selection to evolve defenses against parasitism. Egg rejection is an efficient and common defense against parasitism, although some apparently suitable hosts do not reject cuckoo eggs.Methods: Sparrows Ploceidae are widespread throughout the Old World, and they have a suitable diet for rearing cuckoos, but still they are rarely exploited by brood parasites. To solve such puzzle, we conducted artificial parasitism and cross-fostering experiments in Russet Sparrow (Passer cinnamomeus). Results:The present study showed that Russet Sparrows have no egg recognition ability, but recognize their own nestlings and eject alien chicks or starve them to death. They may use visual cues in chick recognition, although they accept sister species Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus). Conclusions:By rejecting nestlings of foreign species, Russet Sparrows have succeeded to escape from the brood parasitism by cuckoos and other parasites. Our studies shed light on the puzzle why some species are not utilized by cuckoo parasites as hosts.

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“…Most hole-nesting bird species have been classified as "unsuitable" hosts for cuckoo parasitism because cuckoos cannot enter a cavity if the entrance is too small (van Balen et al 1982;Moksnes et al 1991;Davies 2000;Grim et al 2009). However, in China, Liang et al (2016) proved that the hole-nesting Great Tit (Parus major), a species predicted to be an unsuitable host (e.g., Moksnes et al 1991), can reject alien eggs, indicating that hole-nesting birds may also evolve resistance mechanisms against brood parasitism (Grim et al 2014;Liang et al 2016).…”

Section: Open Accessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Function of note strings in Japanese Tit alarm calls to the Common Cuckoo: a playback experiment

et al. 2017

Avian Res

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Background: Birds produce alarm calls to convey information about threats. Some Passerine alarm calls consist of several note strings, but few studies have examined their function. Previous studies have shown that Japanese Tits (Parus minor) can alter the calling rate and number and combination of notes in response to predators. We previously found the combinations of note types in Japanese Tit alarm calls to be significantly different in response to the Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) and Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). Methods:Through playback experiments, we tested whether the note strings in Japanese Tit alarm calls to the Common Cuckoo have different functions in conveying information. The note strings of selected alarm calls were divided into the categories of C and D, and different calls were then constructed separately based on the two note string categories. Original alarm calls (C-D), C calls and D calls were played back to male Japanese Tits during the incubation period.Results: Male Japanese Tits had a significantly stronger response to C calls than to C-D calls, and they showed a significantly stronger response to both C and C-D calls than to D calls, suggesting that Japanese Tits discriminated between the C and D calls. Conclusions:Our study demonstrated that the C-and D-category note strings of Japanese Tit alarm calls to the Common Cuckoo have different functions, which supports the previous finding that different note strings in an alarm call can provide different information to receivers. However, the exact meanings of these note strings are not yet known, and further investigation is therefore required.

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Geographic variation in egg ejection rate by great tits across 2 continents

Cited by 47 publications

References 51 publications

Alarm call‐based discrimination between common cuckoo and Eurasian sparrowhawk in a Chinese population of great tits

Alarm call‐based discrimination between common cuckoo and Eurasian sparrowhawk in a Chinese population of great tits

Russet Sparrows spot alien chicks from their nests

Function of note strings in Japanese Tit alarm calls to the Common Cuckoo: a playback experiment

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