Data from: Effects of parental age at conception on offspring life history trajectories in a long-lived bird
Data files
Sep 22, 2025 version files 185.30 KB
-
Evolution_AFR_swift_08.2025.xlsx
43.20 KB
-
Evolution_Lifespan_swift_08.2025.xlsx
39.20 KB
-
Evolution_LRS_swift_08.2025.xlsx
39.37 KB
-
Evolution_Offspring_phenotype_swift_08.2025.xlsx
36.86 KB
-
Evolution_R_script_08.2025.R
20.04 KB
-
README.md
6.64 KB
Abstract
Parental age at conception can have both short- and long-term consequences on the health, survival, and reproduction of their offspring. To date, most of our knowledge comes from laboratory studies, which consider the effects of maternal age and a “snapshot” of the life history trajectory of the offspring. Here, we use a multigenerational demographic dataset in a free-living, long-lived (median lifespan is 7 years old) bird, the Alpine swift (Tachymarptis melba), to investigate the effects of maternal and paternal age on offspring traits, from nestling to adulthood, and considering all major life history traits, from growth and age at first reproduction to reproductive success and lifespan. Parental age affected offspring phenotype before fledging and lifespan, but differently so for sons and daughters. Offspring from old-age mothers (≥ 11 years old) and fathers (≥ 9 years old) were bigger and less infested by ectoparasites before fledging, except sons from old-age fathers that show no reduction in ectoparasite load. We also report evidence of negative effects of paternal age on the lifespan of their offspring (i.e., Lansing effect), with sons (but not daughters) from old-age fathers having shorter lifespans. Our findings highlight the importance of the transgenerational effects of parental age at conception on the reproductive performance, survival, and phenotype of their offspring.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.1c59zw48k
Description of the data and file structure
Dataset on Alpine swift life history traits at adulthood (age at first reproduction, lifespan, lifetime reproductive success) and phenotype at fledging (mass, size, ectoparasite load) associated with the article entitled "Effects of parental age at conception on offspring life history trajectories in a long-lived bird" by Moullec H., Berger V., Meier C., Reichert S. and Bize P., published in Evolution.
Files and variables
File: Evolution_AFR_swift_08.2025.xlsx
Description: Dataset: parental age effect at conception on offspring age at first reproduction
Variables
- ring: offspring ID
- mother: mother ID
- father: father ID
- year_birth: year of birth of the offspring/year when the data were collected
- colony: city where the data have been collected: Solothurn (Bieltor, BT) and Biel (Stadtkirche, SK)
- sex: sex of the individual, male (M) or female (F)
- age_mother: age of the mother at conception in years
- age_father: age of the father at conception in years
- AFR: age at first reproduction in years
- annual_nestling_survival: mean proportion of offspring who survived from hatching up to fledging in the colonies in the year of birth of a focal offspring
- mother_age_category: maternal age at conception as a 2-level factor: prime-age (2 to 10 years of age) or old-age (>10 years of age)
- father_age_category: paternal age at conception as a 2-level factor: prime-age (2 to 8 years of age) or old-age (>8 years of age)
- lifespan_mother: lifespan of the mother in years
- lifespan_father: lifespan of the father in years
File: Evolution_Lifespan_swift_08.2025.xlsx
Description: Dataset: parental age effect at conception on offspring lifespan
Variables
- ring: offspring ID
- mother: mother ID
- father: father ID
- year_birth: year of birth of offspring/year when the data were collected
- colony: city where the data have been collected: Solothurn (Bieltor, BT) and Biel (Stadtkirche, SK)
- sex: sex of the individual, male (M) or female (F)
- age_mother: age of the mother at conception in years
- age_father: age of the father at conception in years
- lifespan: lifespan in years
- annual_nestling_survival: mean proportion of offspring who survived from hatching up to fledging in the colonies in the year of birth of a focal offspring
- mother_age_category: maternal age at conception as a 2-level factor: prime-age (2 to 10 years of age) or old-age (>10 years of age)
- father_age_category: paternal age at conception as a 2-level factor: prime-age (2 to 8 years of age) or old-age (>8 years of age)
- lifespan_mother: lifespan of the mother in years
- lifespan_father: lifespan of the father in years
File: Evolution_LRS_swift_08.2025.xlsx
Description: Dataset: parental age effect at conception on offspring lifetime reproductive success
Variables
- ring: offspring ID
- mother: mother ID
- father: father ID
- year_birth: year of birth of offspring/year when the data were collected
- colony: city where the data have been collected: Solothurn (Bieltor, BT) and Biel (Stadtkirche, SK)
- sex: sex of the individual, male (M) or female (F)
- age_mother: age of the mother at conception in years
- age_father: age of the father at conception in years
- LRS: lifetime reproductive success
- annual_nestling_survival: mean proportion of offspring who survived from hatching up to fledging in the colonies in the year of birth of a focal offspring
- mother_age_category: maternal age at conception as a 2-level factor: prime-age (2 to 10 years of age) or old-age (>10 years of age)
- father_age_category: paternal age at conception as a 2-level factor: prime-age (2 to 8 years of age) or old-age (>8 years of age)
- lifespan_mother: lifespan of the mother in years
- lifespan_father: lifespan of the father in years
File: Evolution_Offspring_phenotype_swift_08.2025.xlsx
Description: Dataset: parental age effect at conception on offspring phenotype at 50 days after hatching (close to fledging)
Variables
- ring: offspring ID
- mother: mother ID
- father: father ID
- year_birth: year of birth of offspring/year when the data were collected
- colony: city where the data have been collected: Solothurn (Bieltor, BT) and Biel (Stadtkirche, SK)
- hatching_date: hatching day 1 corresponds to May 1st; 32 is June 1st
- age_days: exact age of the offspring in days
- hour_measurement: hour of measurement reported as numerical value (e.g. 8h45min = 8.75)
- body_mass: body mass grams; measured to the nearest 0.1 g using a digital scale
- wing_length: wing length in mm; measured to the nearest 1 mm using a ruler
- sternum_length: sternum length in mm; measured to the nearest 0.1mm using a caliper
- parasite_load: total number of louse-flies (Craterina melbae; Hipposboscidae; Diptera) counted in the plumage of the bird
- tail_length: tail length in mm; measured to the nearest 1mm using a ruler
- brood_size: number of chicks in the nest at 50 days
- sex: sex of the individual, male (M) or female (F)
- age_mother: age of the mother at conception in years
- age_father: age of the father at conception in years
- annual_nestling_survival: mean proportion of offspring who survived from hatching up to fledging in the colonies in the year of birth of a focal offspring
- mother_age_category: maternal age at conception as a 2-level factor: prime-age (2 to 10 years of age) or old-age (>10 years of age)
- father_age_category: paternal age at conception as a 2-level factor: prime-age (2 to 8 years of age) or old-age (>8 years of age)
- lifespan_mother: lifespan of the mother in years
- lifespan_father: lifespan of the father in years
File: Evolution_R_script_08.2025.R
Description: This R script analyzes the impact of parental age at conception on various offspring life-history traits (such as age at first reproduction, lifespan, lifetime reproductive success, and physical phenotype) in a long-lived bird species, using mixed-effect models and visualizations.
Code/software
R script associated with the article entitled "Effects of parental age at conception on offspring life history trajectories in a long-lived bird" by Moullec H., Berger V., Meier C., Reicher, T.S., and Bize P., published in Evolution.
Data courtesy of P. Bize et al. (pierre.bize@vogelwarte.ch), Swiss Ornithological Institute, CH-6204 Sempach