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Dryad

Data for: Shy-boldness cannot predict egg rejection in the Japanese tit

Data files

Jun 07, 2023 version files 78.97 KB

Abstract

In response to brood parasitism, which significantly reduces the reproductive success of avian hosts, hosts have evolved the ability to recognize and reject parasitic eggs. Many studies have revealed the influencing factors of egg recognition and egg rejection, and recent study found that host personality, along the bold-shy continuum, can influence egg rejection behavior. In addition, the egg rejection behavior of hosts differed among populations, suggesting that individuals with different personalities may evolve various adaptive behaviors under different parasitic pressures, but there has been few relevant experiments to verify this. In the present study, two populations of the Japanese tit Parus minor distributed in China were used to examine whether there were differences in egg rejection behavior of individuals with different personalities. The results showed that egg rejection rates of bold individuals (who remained in the nest box when encountering human invaders) and shy individuals (who immediately flew away from the nest box when encountering human invaders) were similar in both populations of the Japanese tit, and there were also no significant differences in egg rejection rates between individuals of the same personality in the two populations. This study suggests that host personality, along the bold-shy continuum, does not account for egg rejection behavior in the Japanese tits. This may be due to either other factors that affect egg rejection behavior counteracting the effect of personality, or the presence of multiple personalities that act together in the Japanese tits counteracting the effect of a single personality trait.