据美国《科学》杂志在线新闻报道，研究人员发现，根据蛋壳的紫外线（UV）反射模式，鸟类能够发现不请自来的“鸟蛋”——例如那些臭名昭著的杜鹃。鸣鸟妈妈会丢弃那些来自其他鸣鸟的蛋，前提是这些蛋上涂了一层UV防护膜而非一层透明的凝胶。这表明截然不同的UV反射模式对于鸟蛋的识别是至关重要的。研究人员在7月14日的《实验生物学杂志》网络版上报告了这一发现。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
JEB，doi: 10.1242/jeb.017327，Marcel Honza and Lenka Polaiková
Experimental reduction of ultraviolet wavelengths reflected from parasitic eggs affects rejection behaviour in the blackcap Sylvia atricapilla
Marcel Honza1,* and Lenka Polaiková1,2
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@brno.cas.cz )
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.
