Table

Mean Julian (SE) breeding date for cuckoos exploiting a given host and mean Julian (SE) breeding date for the same host species. See paper for further details

Nest site characteristics and cuckoo-host egg phenotype contrasts at marsh warbler nests naturally parasitised by the common cuckoo and the nearest unparasitised nests.

<p>Data are presented as Means ± SD (ranges). Spot cover and spot distribution are expressed as proportions (see also <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0031704#s4" target="_blank">Material and Methods</a>). Test statistic refers to paired t-tests or Wilcoxon's rank sum tests (indicated as V in brackets), depending on the distribution of the variables. Background and spot color color contrasts as well as luminance contrasts are calculated based on the Vorobyev & Osorio's (1998) perceptual model and the units are JND, meaning “just noticeable differences”. Degrees of freedom are 20 in some cases because for one pair of clutches we did not measure some of the variables.</p

A boxplot showing the terrain ruggedness index values within 100 m, 250 m and 500 m of wild dog dens (“den”) and random contrast locations (“random”) within each of the four study populations.

<p>Median values are indicated in the boxes while the error bars indicate the 10^th and 90^th percentiles. Outliers not shown due to scaling of the graphs.</p

Pair-wise comparisons of sex ratio in relation to population and host species using binomial mixed models controlling for female identity.

<p>See <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0036884#pone-0036884-t001" target="_blank">table 1</a> for explanation of population names.</p

Results from experimental parasitism of ashy-throated parrotbill clutches.

<p>Contrast  =  contrast between host and parasite eggs on a scale from 1 (low) to 5 (high). White  =  white egg, white-pale  =  egg with intermediate colour between white and pale blue, pale  =  pale blue egg, pale-blue  =  egg with intermediate colour between pale blue and blue, blue  =  blue egg. Three types of eggs were used; natural conspecific eggs, model cuckoo-sized eggs (cuckoo) and model parrotbill-sized eggs (conspecific). Numbers in brackets are % acceptance within each combination.</p

The relationship between contrast in egg appearance and egg rejection rate in ashy-throated parrotbills.

<p>1 =  lowest and 5 =  highest contrast. Pairwise differences in rejection rates between contrast levels were tested using Fisher's exact tests. Holm's <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0010816#pone.0010816-Holm1" target="_blank">[76]</a> sequential method was applied as a P-value adjustment procedure. *P = 0.01, ***P<0.0001.</p

Frequency distributions of ashy-throated parrotbill and cuckoo egg morphs.

<p>Numbers above bars denote number of nests.</p

Number of ashy-throated parrotbill nests parasitized by common cuckoos.

<p>White  =  white egg, pale  =  pale blue egg, blue  =  blue egg. “All” refers to the total number of nests parasitized (parasitism rate (% nests parasitized) in brackets). “Total” refers to the total number of nests recorded, whether parasitized or not, and was used in the calculation of parasitism rate.</p

Occurrence of nest predation in ashy-throated parrotbills.

<p>Predation rates are provided as % (in brackets) with total number of nests monitored. Differences in predation rate between egg types are tested with Chi-square tests.</p