The use and function of snake skins in the nests of Great Reed Warblers Acrocephalus arundinaceus

Trnka, Alfréd; Prokop, Pavol

doi:10.1111/j.1474-919x.2011.01124.x

Cited by 16 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica; Peralta-Sanchez et al, 2011), snake skin, e.g. the Great Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus; Trnka and Prokop, 2011), or fragments of plants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Green Plant Material in Avian Nests

Dubiec

Góźdź

Mazgajski

2013

Avian Biology Research

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Some bird species place in their nests fresh green plant materials, e.g. leaves, sprigs or branches of herbs, shrubs and trees, which are not a part of the basic nest structure. These additional materials are often characterised by a high content of volatile secondary metabolites and constitute a non-random, small fraction of plants available in the habitat. Several non-mutually exclusive hypotheses have been proposed to explain the function of green material in avian nests with three of them attracting the most attention. The courtship hypothesis proposes that green material is used by males in order to attract females to nesting sites. The nest protection hypothesis posits that birds place in the nest green material rich in volatile compounds to reduce the abundance of parasites and pathogens which, in turn, should mitigate their negative impact on the host. According to the drug hypothesis green material directly positively affects the health and development of nestlings, e.g. through stimulation of some components of the nestlings' immune system. Here, we present an overview of hypotheses explaining the phenomenon of green material in avian nests with a thorough description of three most frequently tested hypotheses and suggest the directions for future studies.

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“…the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica; Peralta-Sanchez et al, 2011), snake skin, e.g. the Great Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus; Trnka and Prokop, 2011), or fragments of plants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Green Plant Material in Avian Nests

Dubiec

Góźdź

Mazgajski

2013

Avian Biology Research

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“…The great spotted cuckoo prefers to parasitize large magpie nests because nest owners of such nests can rear nestlings more successfully than control nests (Soler et al 1995). Nest size in the great reed warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) serves as a signal of female quality for investment in reproduction, because enlarged great reed warbler nests signi cantly increase male feeding effort (Trnka and Prokop 2011;Jelínek et al 2016). However, no evidence supports the hypothesis that nest size affects the frequency of parasitism in the great reed warbler (Avilés et al 2009;Jelínek et al 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nest Size Matters: Common Cuckoos Prefer to Parasitize Larger Nests of Oriental Reed Warblers

Wang

Yang

et al. 2021

Preprint

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BackgroundAvian brood parasites leave parental care of their offspring to foster parents. Theory predicts that parasites should select for large host nests when they have sufficient available host nests at a given time. We developed an empirical experimental design to address this hypothesis by studying nest choice of common cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) among nests of its Oriental reed warbler (Acrocephalus orientalis) hosts.ResultsWe presented two groups of experimental nests: 1) nest dyads comprise one large and one small artificial nest from reed leaves, and 2) nest triads tied together use the modified old own warbler nests including enlarged, reduced and medium sized nests to elicit parasitism by common cuckoos. We predicted that cuckoos prefer larger nests over medium sized ones, and over the smallest nest. Our experimental findings show that common cuckoo females generally prefer large nests over medium or small sized nests. Furthermore, experiments showed that cuckoo parasitism was significantly more common than in previous studies of the same warbler population.ConclusionsOur results implying that larger, taller and more exposed host nests effectively increased the probability of cuckoo parasitism.

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“…The utilization of green plants as nest materials has received special attention in studies of evolutionary ecology (Dubiec et al 2013). Besides reinforcing the nest structure, green plants also serve other functions in bird nests; these include propagating sexual signals (Fauth et al 1991;Gwinner 1997;Brouwer & Komdeur 2004;Polo et al 2004;Moreno 2012;Tomás et al 2013), ensuring nest protection (Trnka & Prokop 2011;Liu & Liang 2021a), reducing the abundance of parasites and pathogens (Clark & Mason 1985;Lafuma et al 2001;Shutler & Campbell 2007;Mennerat et al 2009;Scott-Baumann & Morgan 2015;Ruiz-Castellano et al 2017), and improving the immunity of nestlings and promoting their growth (Gwinner et al 2000;Tomás et al 2012). Adding green leaves to the nest is thought to be a form of self-medication (de Roode et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Adding green leaves to the nest is thought to be a form of self-medication (de Roode et al 2013). While a number of studies focus on the effects of the use of green plants, so far there has been little work on the effects of the use of snake slough as nest materials (Strecker 1926;Medlin & Risch 2006;Trnka & Prokop 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Snake slough in nests of crested mynas: effect on breeding success and nestling growth

Liu

Liang

2021

The European Zoological Journal

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The choice of suitable nest materials is a key to nest-building process in birds. During the breeding season (March-August) in 2018 and 2019, we discovered that crested mynas (Acridotheres cristatellus) added snake slough (2-18.3 cm in length) to their nests. The addition of snake slough continued throughout the breeding period, with a proportion of 38.9% being during the nest-building period. The use of snake slough in 2018 (38.5%) was significantly less than in 2019 (71.4%). No significant differences were found in clutch size, egg mass, and egg size between nests with snake slough (the slough group) and nests without snake slough (the non-slough group). There were also no significant differences in the number of nestlings hatched for each nest, nestling growing and breeding success between the snake slough and the non-snake slough group. This is the first study to report that crested mynas add snake slough to their nests throughout their breeding period, but snake slough had little impact on most of the breeding parameters of crested mynas. We speculate that snake slough in crested myna nests may serve to reduce nest predation, improve the immunity of nestlings or serve as a post-mating sexual signal eliciting differential reproductive investment in mates; however, these speculations require further investigation.

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The use and function of snake skins in the nests of Great Reed Warblers Acrocephalus arundinaceus

Cited by 16 publications

References 17 publications

Green Plant Material in Avian Nests

Green Plant Material in Avian Nests

Nest Size Matters: Common Cuckoos Prefer to Parasitize Larger Nests of Oriental Reed Warblers

Snake slough in nests of crested mynas: effect on breeding success and nestling growth

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