Obligate avian brood parasites lay their eggs in nests of other host species, which assume all the costs of parental care for the foreign eggs and chicks. The most common defensive response to parasitism is the rejection ...

For many hosts of brood-parasitic birds, their frontline of defence is to mob adult parasites that approach the nest. Mobbing is commonly interpreted as an adaptation to prevent the parasite from laying, although to date ...

In recent years, the advance of deforestation and the replacement of areas intended for intensive cultivation have caused pathogens and parasites of Apis mellifera bees to emerge in regions where they had not previously ...

Chalkbrood and stonebrood are two fungal diseases associated with honey bee brood. Chalkbrood, caused by Ascosphaera apis, is a common and widespread disease that can result in severe reduction of emerging worker bees and ...

In young birds, the intensity of the begging signal varies according to the chick's internal condition (i.e., hunger or nutritional state) but may be additionally modulated by the external conditions experienced in the ...

Obligate avian brood parasites do not provide direct care to their young but can indirectly increase their offspring's success in host nests. One way in which parasitic cowbirds (Molothrus sp.) could achieve this is through ...

Some brood parasites kill all their host's offspring shortly after hatching, whereas others are tolerant and are reared in mixed host-parasite broods. This difference may arise because nestling parasites face a "provisions ...

Brood parasites lay thick-shelled eggs and numerous hypotheses have been proposed to explain the significance of this trait. We examined whether thick eggshells protect the parasite egg during laying events. We used eggs ...

Abstract: The rejection of foreign eggs is the most effective adaptation against brood parasitism in birds. Many hosts, however, show suboptimal responses towards parasitic eggs, which could reflect a compromise between ...

Obligate brood parasitic birds, such as cowbirds, evade parental care duties by laying their eggs in the nests of other species. Cowbirds are assumed to avoid laying repeatedly in the same nest so as to prevent intrabrood ...