Skip Navigation



Behavioral Ecology Advance Access published online on January 11, 2008
Behavioral Ecology, doi:10.1093/beheco/arm147
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Lay Summary
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
19/2/398    most recent
arm147v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Cruz, A.
Right arrow Articles by Weaver, P. F.
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Cruz, A.
Right arrow Articles by Weaver, P. F.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Egg rejection behavior in a population exposed to parasitism: Village Weavers on Hispaniola

Alexander Cruza, John W. Prather*, James W. Wileyb and Pablo F. Weavera

a Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0334, USA b United States Geological Survey, Maryland Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Maryland Eastern Shore University, Princess Anne, MA 21853, USA

Address correspondence to A. Cruz. E-mail: alexander.cruz{at}colorado.edu.


  Abstract

In contrast to African Village Weavers (Ploceus cucullatus) that are parasitized by Diederik Cuckoos (Chrysococcyx caprius), introduced weavers on Hispaniola existed without parasitism for at least 2 centuries until the arrival of the Shiny Cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis) in the 1970s. Cruz and Wiley (1989) found that Hispaniolan weavers had a lower rejection rate of foreign eggs than African populations. Subsequently, Robert and Sorci (1999) and Lahti (2005, 2006) found that acceptance of dissimilar eggs is not characteristic of the species throughout its Hispaniolan range. In 1999–2002, we studied egg rejection in Hispaniolan weavers on a broad regional scale. Rejection increased as experimental eggs became increasingly different from the host eggs. Rejection rates for mimetic eggs, different color eggs, different-spotting eggs, and cowbird eggs was 23.2%, 33.3%, 61.5%, and 85.3%, respectively, with higher rejection of cowbird eggs in areas where cowbirds were observed. Although rejection is likely to have a genetic component, the differences could be due to phenotypic plasticity. Plasticity in egg rejection may be expected, given the potential cost of rejection and the spatiotemporal distribution of cowbirds. Thus, egg rejection has not necessarily decreased in Hispaniolan weavers, but it may act in a plastic manner, increasing where cowbirds are present.

Key words: egg rejection behavior, Hispaniola, Molothrus bonariensis, Ploceus cucullatus, Shiny Cowbird, Village Weaver.

* Deceased.

Received 2 October 2006; revised 24 November 2007; accepted 28 November 2007.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.