Data for: Age, sex, and temperature shape within- and among-individual space use in Black-capped Chickadees
Data files
Oct 23, 2024 version files 16.03 MB
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data_AllDates.csv
363.71 KB
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data_FeederVisits.csv
15.66 MB
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README.md
3.54 KB
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THC_Survival.csv
1.96 KB
Abstract
Historically, spatial ecology studies have focused on average movement patterns within animal groups; however, recent studies highlight the value of considering movement decisions both within and among individuals. Using a marked population of Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus), we used the number of unique feeders an individual visits within our study area as a proxy for space use to assess the causes and consequences of within- and among-individual differences in chickadee space use. We found that as temperature decreased, the feeding rate increased. Females, but not males, increased the number of unique feeders used coincident with the temperature-related increase in feeding rates. This may be due to sex-related differences in dominance, where males which are the dominant sex in chickadees, have priority access to feeders, while females increase their foraging areas to meet higher energetic demand. We also found that independent of temperature, juvenile males used more unique feeders than adult males. We suggest that this may be due to age-specific benefits of space use in males, where un-paired juvenile males may increase feeder exploration to gain information about potential mates. Finally, although chickadees showed repeatable differences in space use throughout our study, we found no evidence that space use predicted annual survival. Overall, our results suggest that dominance hierarchies and individual energetics impact within- and among-individual variation in space use. We provide suggestions for future studies to enhance understanding of fitness-related consequences of within- and among-individual variation in space use.
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.47d7wm3pn
Description of the data and file structure
Data description
This data was collected from January 9 to February 28, 2023 (inclusive). It contains feeder visit data from a marked population of Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus).
Files and variables
File: data_AllDates.csv
Description: This file contains all data collected from January 9 to February 28, 2023 (inclusive), but excludes February 15 to February 23, 2023 (inclusive).
Variables
- VisitDate: date of observation (YYYY-MM-DD)
- TransponderHexCode: unique 10-digit hexadecimal PIT tag code
- UniqueFeederCount: the number of unique feeders visited by the bird on the given VisitDate
- AvgTemp: mean daily temperature in degrees Celcius
- Temp_stnd: the standardized temperature used in the analysis. Temperature was standardized by dividing values by 2 standard deviations so that the estimated effect of temperature reflects the effect of 1 s.d. change in temperature (i.e., 5.74°C).
- Sex: determined molecularly or by discriminant function score. Male or Female
- AgeBin: the binned age of birds (0 = birds hatched in 2022, “juveniles”; 1 = birds hatched in 2021 or earlier, “adults”)
- Age_Sex: a composite variable specifying the age (0 = juvenile or 1 = adult) and sex (male or female) of each individual, resulting in four levels (0Male, 0Female, 1Male, 1Female).
- VisitCount: the number of visits the bird made to feeders throughout the study site on the given VisitDate (i.e., daily feeding rate).
- Age: the minimum age of a bird with reference to their hatch year. The birds present in our study ranged in minimum age from 0 years (i.e., hatched in spring 2022) to 6 years (i.e., hatched in spring 2016 or earlier).
File: THC_Survival.csv
Description: This file contains data on the annual survival of birds that used the feeders in Winter 2023.
Variables
- TransponderHexCode: unique 10-digit hexadecimal PIT tag code
- Survived: was a bird detected at our RFID-equipped feeders in Fall 2023 (i.e., did it survive?) (0 = no, 1 = yes)
File: data_FeederVisits.csv
Description: This file contains each bird’s visit recording to the feeders from January 9 to February 28, 2023 (inclusive), but excludes February 15 to February 23, 2023 (inclusive).
Variables
- VisitDate: date of observation (YYYY-MM-DD)
- Time: time of visit
- Feeder: location of feeder visited (02A, 04A, 09A, 11A, 12A, 16A)
- TransponderHexCode: unique 10-digit hexadecimal PIT tag code
- UniqueFeederCount_Total: the number of unique feeders visited by the bird calculated across the entire study period
- UniqueFeederCount_Day: the number of unique feeders visited by the bird on the given VisitDate
Code/software
All analyses were conducted using R statistical software v. 4.3.3 using the R Studio interface. The complete code is provided in the file called:
File: BCCHSpatialBehav_Script.R
Description: This file contains code to reproduce all main text and supplementary analyses. All packages required to run the code and reproduce analyses and figures are provided within the R code, including version numbers.
Access information
Other publicly accessible locations of the data:
- Code and data are also available on Open Science Framework (osf.io/7hnfk)