White David J, Davies Hayden B, Agyapong Samuel, Seegmiller Nora
Department of Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University, 75 University Avenue West Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2 L 3C5
Department of Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University, 75 University Avenue West Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2 L 3C5.
Proc Biol Sci. 2017 Aug 30;284(1861). doi: 10.1098/rspb.2017.1083.
Brood parasites face considerable cognitive challenges in locating and selecting host nests for their young. Here, we test whether female brown-headed cowbirds, , could use information acquired from observing the nest prospecting patterns of conspecifics to influence their own patterns of nest selection. In laboratory-based experiments, we created a disparity in the amount of personal information females had about the quality of nests. Females with less personal information about the quality of two nests spent more time investigating the nest that more knowledgeable females investigated. Furthermore, there was a strong negative relationship between individual's ability to track nest quality using personal information and their tendency to copy others. These two contrasting strategies for selecting nests are equally effective, but lead to different patterns of parasitism.
巢寄生者在为幼鸟寻找和选择宿主巢穴时面临着相当大的认知挑战。在这里，我们测试雌性褐头牛鹂是否可以利用从观察同种个体的巢穴勘察模式中获得的信息来影响它们自己的巢穴选择模式。在基于实验室的实验中，我们在雌性个体拥有的关于巢穴质量的个人信息数量上制造了差异。对两个巢穴质量的个人信息了解较少的雌性会花更多时间去调查更有经验的雌性所调查的巢穴。此外，个体利用个人信息追踪巢穴质量的能力与它们模仿其他个体的倾向之间存在强烈的负相关关系。这两种截然不同的巢穴选择策略同样有效，但会导致不同的寄生模式。
