There is increasing evidence for species using information from heterospecifics to assess predation risk or habitat quality. Notably, a series of influential studies, using geometric symbols added to nest boxes, has shown that migratory flycatchers copy tits’ apparent nest-site preferences and settle in nest boxes bearing the same symbol as tits’ nest boxes. This “Selective Interspecific Information Use” hypothesis was recently challenged by the “Owner Aggression” hypothesis, stating that nest occupancy patterns are instead driven by tits aggressively excluding flycatchers from particular empty boxes to use as potential re-nesting sites after nest predation. Here, I propose the “Adaptive Interspecific Information Use” hypothesis, which outlines the predicted fitness benefits of nest-site copying or rejecting, and, importantly, provides an explanation for inconsistent experimental results to date. Indeed, neither previous hypotheses satisfactorily explains why flycatchers switch from copying to avoiding tits’ preferences, when tits’ clutch sizes are small or tits are at the laying stage. Adding to the recent debate, I show how predictable changes in nest predators’ search image and tits’ anti-predator behaviour may explain this variation. Indeed, incubating tit species aggressively defend their nest against nest predators, including by emitting snake-like vocalisations, which may generally deter predators from boxes bearing a tit nest symbol. By contrast, the undefended tit nests—which occur during laying before incubation starts, or potentially in individuals with small clutches—are easy prey that predators may specifically target. If predators cue on tit nests’ symbol, I therefore predict that, to reduce predation risk throughout the season, flycatchers may switch from avoiding the symbol of undefended tit nests to preferring the symbol of tits incubating large clutches. I propose experiments to test these predictions. Overall, considering nest-site copying in the landscape of fear framework, rather than invalidating the Selective Interspecific Information Use hypothesis, may be key to understand its evolution.

越来越多的证据表明物种使用异源物种的信息来评估捕食风险或栖息地质量。值得注意的是，一系列使用在巢箱中添加几何符号的有影响力的研究表明，迁徙的捕蝇器复制山雀的明显巢穴偏好，并定居在巢箱中，其巢穴符号与山雀的巢箱相同。这种“选择性种间信息使用”假说最近受到“所有者侵略”假说的挑战，该假说说，鸟巢的居住模式是由山雀积极驱动的，它们从特定的空盒子中积极地将捕蝇器排除在巢捕食之后用作潜在的重新筑巢地点。在这里，我提出“适应性种间信息使用”假说，该假说概述了巢位复制或拒绝的预期适应性益处，并且重要的是，提供了迄今为止不一致的实验结果的解释。确实，以前的假设都无法令人满意地解释为什么在山雀的离合尺寸较小或山雀处于产蛋阶段时，捕蝇器会从复制转移到避免山雀的喜好。除了最近的争论之外，我还展示了巢穴捕食者的搜索图像和山雀的抗捕食者行为的可预测变化如何解释了这种变化。确实，孵化的山雀物种积极防御其巢穴免受巢穴掠食者攻击，包括发出类似蛇的声音，这通常可以阻止带有山雀巢穴符号的盒子中的掠食者。相比之下，未防御的山雀巢（在孵化开始之前的产卵过程中可能发生，或者可能在具有小离合器的个体中发生）是捕食者可能专门针对的猎物。如果捕食者暗示山雀巢的象征，因此，我预测，为减少整个季节的捕食风险，捕蝇器可能会从避开不设防的山雀巢的象征转为偏爱在大型离合器上孵化的山雀的象征。我提出实验来检验这些预测。总的来说，在恐惧框架的框架内考虑巢穴位置复制，而不是使选择性种间信息使用假设无效，可能是理解其进化的关键。