Female common cuckoo calls dampen the mobbing intensity of great reed warbler hosts

Ethology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Attila Marton ◽  
Attila Fülöp ◽  
Miklós Bán ◽  
Márk E. Hauber ◽  
Csaba Moskát
Keyword(s):  
Great Reed Warbler ◽  
Reed Warbler ◽  
Common Cuckoo

ADAPTATIONS BY GREAT REED WARBLERS TO BROOD PARASITISM: A COMPARISON OF POPULATIONS IN SYMPATRY AND ALLOPATRY WITH THE COMMON CUCKOO

Behaviour ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 139 (10) ◽  
pp. 1313-1329 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Rejection Rate ◽  
Host Population ◽  
Greek Population ◽  
Great Reed Warbler ◽  
Reed Warbler ◽  
Common Cuckoo ◽  
Egg Colour ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
The Common

AbstractEgg rejection behaviour, as an antiparasite defence against brood parasitism was compared in two great reed warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus populations. In central Hungary the host population lives in sympatry with the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus, and it is heavily parasitised (ca 66%). In central Greece the great reed warbler occurs in allopatry with the cuckoo, so it is not parasitised at all. Experimental parasitism with poorly mimetic (often called 'non-mimetic') artificial cuckoo eggs revealed a 100% rejection rate towards the foreign eggs in the Greek population, but the Hungarian hosts accepted 29.4% and rejected 70.6% of the model cuckoo eggs. No other rejection type than ejection was observed. The significantly higher level of rejection in Greece than in Hungary suggests that the Greek great reed warbler population is an abandoned host population of the cuckoo, which kept its egg recognition ability. A computer-based image analysis of host's clutches revealed that interclutch variation in egg colour was greater than intraclutch variation in the Hungarian population, but not in the Greek population. Spottedness of eggs were similar in both populations. Generally, a tendency for a higher interclutch variation was found in Hungary. Intraclutch variation was more similar in the two populations, but for the colour variables it showed a lower value in Hungary than in Greece. The heavy cuckoo parasitism in Hungary is suggested to be the main cause for the increased interclutch variation in relation to intraclutch variation in egg appearance among great reed warbler clutches. The high interclutch variation reduces the chance that the parasite egg's appearance matches that of the hosts', which facilitates hosts' egg discrimination.

Great Reed Warbler singing behavior and conspicuous song structures are not nest-location cues for the Common Cuckoo

2017 ◽  
Vol 158 (4) ◽  
pp. 925-933 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslav Capek ◽  
Tereza Petrusková ◽  
Zuzana Šebelíková ◽  
Jesús Campos Serrano ◽  
Petr Procházka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Great Reed Warbler ◽  
Reed Warbler ◽  
Common Cuckoo ◽  
Nest Location ◽  
Singing Behavior ◽  
The Common

scholarly journals Some Aspects of Laying, Incubation and Hatching in the Great Reed-Warbler

2002 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 241-245
Author(s):  
Jeong-Chil Yoo ◽  
Yu-Seong Choi
Keyword(s):  
Great Reed Warbler ◽  
Reed Warbler

Brood sex ratios, female harem status and resources for nestling provisioning in the great reed warbler ( Acrocephalus arundinaceus )

2000 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 312-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Westerdahl ◽  
Staffan Bensch ◽  
Bengt Hansson ◽  
Dennis Hasselquist ◽  
Torbjörn von Schantz
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Great Reed Warbler ◽  
Acrocephalus Arundinaceus ◽  
Reed Warbler ◽  
Nestling Provisioning

scholarly journals Heterospecific alarm-call recognition in two warbler hosts of common cuckoos

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 1149-1157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiangping Yu ◽  
Hailin Lu ◽  
Wei Sun ◽  
Wei Liang ◽  
Haitao Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alarm Call ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Reed Warbler ◽  
Cuculus Canorus ◽  
Common Cuckoo ◽  
Playback Experiments ◽  
Call Recognition ◽  
Accipiter Nisus ◽  
Main Host ◽  
The Common

Abstract Species facing similar selection pressures should recognize heterospecific alarm signals. However, no study has so far examined heterospecific alarm-call recognition in response to parasitism by cuckoos. In this study, we tested whether two sympatric host species of the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus, Oriental reed warbler Acrocephalus orientalis (ORW, main host), and black-browed reed warbler Acrocephalus bistrigiceps (BRW, rare host), could recognize each other’s alarm calls in response to cuckoos. Dummies of common cuckoo (parasite) and Eurasian sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus (predator) were used to induce and record alarm calls of the two warbler species, respectively. In the conspecific alarm-call playback experiments, ORW responded more strongly to cuckoo alarm calls than to sparrowhawk alarm calls, while BRW responded less strongly to cuckoo alarm calls than to sparrowhawk alarm calls. In the heterospecific alarm-call playback experiments, both ORW and BRW responded less strongly to cuckoo alarm calls than sparrowhawk alarm calls. BRW seemed to learn the association between parasite-related alarm calls of the ORW and the cuckoo by observing the process of ORW attacking cuckoos. In contrast, alarm calls of BRW to cuckoos were rarely recorded in most cases. BRW with low parasite pressure still developed recognition of heterospecific parasite-related alarm call. Unintended receivers in the same community should recognize heterospecific alarm calls precisely to extract valuable information.

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