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First published online July 14, 2008
Journal of Experimental Biology 211, 2519-2523 (2008)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2008
doi: 10.1242/jeb.017327

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Experimental reduction of ultraviolet wavelengths reflected from parasitic eggs affects rejection behaviour in the blackcap Sylvia atricapilla

Marcel Honza^1,* and Lenka Polaiková^1,2

¹ Institute of Vertebrate Biology, v. v. i., Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
² Institute of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: honza{at}brno.cas.cz)

Accepted 19 May 2008

Hosts of brood parasites use a variety of cues relating to eggshell appearance of parasitic eggs, which facilitate their recognition and rejection. It has been documented that host visual perception of different colours including UV wavelengths plays an important role in this respect. In the study reported here, we aimed to test whether artificial reduction of the UV wavelengths reflected from parasitic eggshell affects rejection behaviour in the blackcap Sylvia atricapilla. To achieve this goal, we experimentally manipulated, with UV, part of spectra reflected from conspecific eggs and reduced it into the range of 320–350 nm. We used an ultraviolet light blocker, which did not influence the reflectance shape of other spectrum parts. We also used a group of experimental eggs coated in Vaseline, which had no effect on the spectral shape in the UV or visible ranges of the light spectrum. Additionally, we used a third experimental group of unmanipulated eggs as a control. The experimental eggs coated in the UV blocker were rejected at a higher rate than those coated in the Vaseline. Moreover, a binary logistic regression revealed that an artificial reduction of the UV wavelengths reflected from the parasitic egg significantly affected the probability of being rejected by the hosts. To our knowledge, this is the first experimental study to reveal that manipulation with UV wavelengths affects the recognition of parasitic eggs, indicating that the UV part of the spectrum has an important role in host recognition behaviour.

Key words: brood parasitism, cuckoo, blackcap, UV spectrum part, rejection behaviour, parasitic egg

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