User:SarMar/sandbox

Main article contribution draft
Depending on the parrotbill species, the eggs will either be maculate with spots or marks, or immaculate, meaning without spots or marks. The cuckoo is also able to lay eggs that replicate the ones of their hosts in a means to have their eggs accepted by the host. Whether the parasitic eggs are accepted by the host is based on two hypothetical cognitive mechanisms. True or template-based recognition predicts that by learning or by instinct, the parrotbill would be able to reject the brood parasite eggs. If learned, the parrotbill would imprint on their own eggs and would be able to use it as a template to compare to foreign eggs. Recognition by discordancy is the least favoured hypothesis among scientists of the two mechanisms, but describes the action of rejecting the eggs which appear to be the minority whether it is their own eggs of the parasites eggs and does not require learning or instinctive behaviour. Previous studies have predicted discordancy is favoured as certain species demonstrate the behaviour at all life stages.

One parrotbill species that has been studied is the ashy-throated parrotbill (Paradoxornis alphonsianus) and demonstrated the use of both mechanisms relaying there may not be one "universal method". The eggs of the ashy-throated parrotbill are immaculate and polymorphic in which multiple phenotypic colours in that species is produced; their eggs are placed in competition with the eggs of the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). The immaculate colours blue, pale blue and white, but only one colour is present at a time and the female only produces one colour over its lifetime.

If parrotbills do not have their own eggs within its nest, it has been observed they accept the eggs of the avian brood parasite as the "cue" of the presence of their own eggs has not been established.

In some species, male parrotbills also incubate eggs and they are predicted to follow discordancy recogntion for this behaviour as the males may encounter multiple egg types with different mates over time. This could lead to rejection of their own eggs based on previous knowledge of egg colour. A possible exception to this idea is if the host parrotbill produces eggs that are monomorphic.

If a host species is new to an area, it is suspected cuckoo parasitsm will be favoured as recognition of parasitic eggs in the are has not yet occurred.

Review - Parrotbill egg recognition
It seems you have a clear understanding of your topic and the organization of your article appears well planned. However, you mention that you are going to use a primary research article and discuss their findings and reasoning. I would suggest being careful in the highlighting of one paper’s results as this could come across as biased. It may be better to look for several different studies on this subject and then create a summary of the overall results and trends that these studies have found. As well, you may want to have a section about what exactly the egg recognition behaviour is (i.e. an operational definition of the behaviour). In your outline you have a mechanisms section planned for later in your article. One option could be moving that section closer to the beginning so you can define the behaviour demonstrated as well as the mechanisms behind this behaviour. I believe you have a good amount of useful information to start writing your article however, expansion of your resource list and development of the information you plan to present in your different sections may help to enhance your work. Sboychuk (talk) 15:09, 21 October 2017 (UTC)

Creating the article
The article I have created is called Parrotbill egg recognition and will discuss how brood parasites, like the common cuckoo, may or may not be able to deceive parrotbills when it comes to placing their eggs in the nests of parrotbills. The primary research article on this topic found that the parrotbill is required to lay its own eggs for the initiation of cognitive mechanisms to determine which eggs are parasitic. Based on their results in their experimental trials, I will discuss their findings and reasoning behind this behaviour and use other sources to describe in detail the cognitive mechanisms being applied. Specific examples of parrotbill species will also be chosen and discussed.

Outline
-Lead summary

-Discussion of parrotbill eggs and brood parasite eggs

-Different results of parasitic eggs in host's nest

-Mechanisms behind this behaviour

-Example in nature

Lead Summary
Parrotbill egg recognition is the ability of the parrotbill to distinguish its own eggs against the eggs of a brood parasite. Without their own eggs in the nest, parrotbills are not able to identify whether their nest has been intruded by the eggs of a brood parasite. Because the colour and number of eggs may vary, there are varying outcomes to whether the parrotbill will reject or accept the eggs whether it be their own or if they are acting host for another species. Cognitive mechanisms including recognition by discordance and template-based recognition are hypothesized to be the manner in which a host's eggs are identified. The common cuckoo lays there eggs in the nests of parrotbills and the two have co-evolved together over time to promote the reproductive success of both species.

References