Attractive blue-green egg coloration and cuckoo− host coevolution

Abstract:

Recent evidence suggests that blue-green coloration of bird eggshells may be related to female and/or egg phenotypic quality, and that such colour may affect parental effort and therefore the nutritional environment of developing nestlings. Here we suggest that these relationships and the signal function of eggshell coloration would affect the outcome of coevolution between avian brood parasites and their hosts in at least three different non-exclusive evolutionary pathways. First, by laying blue-green coloured eggs, cuckoo females may exploit possible sensory biases of their hosts, constraining the evolution of parasitic egg recognition, and thus avoid rejection. Second, because of the relatively high costs of laying blue eggs, cuckoo females may be limited in their ability to mimic costly blue-green eggs of their hosts because cuckoo females lay many more eggs than their hosts. Furthermore, costs associated …

Año de publicación:

2012

Keywords:

Fuente:

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