Data from: Temperature-related differences in hair cortisol among outdoor-housed Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta)
Data files
Apr 11, 2025 version files 134.85 KB
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Pritchard-et-al_HairCortAnalyses_wBehaviors.R
9.33 KB
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Pritchard-et-al_HairCortAnalysesA.R
16.39 KB
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Pritchard-et-al_HairCortAnalysesAppendTemp.R
12.50 KB
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Pritchard-et-al_HairCortAnalysesB.R
6.66 KB
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Pritchard-et-al_HairCortData_wBehavior.rds
53.78 KB
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Pritchard-et-al_HairCortData.rds
31.07 KB
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README.md
5.11 KB
Abstract
Temperature has a known potential to influence glucocorticoid concentrations obtained from fecal samples in nonhuman primates. Studies reliant on hair cortisol estimates obtained using samples from outdoor subjects, however, may not control for temperature. This omission is despite the general utility of hair as a sample matrix with relatively longer periods of accrual time. We examined these dynamics in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta); importantly, this population of rhesus macaques exhibits covariation between season and breeding behavior. Thus, we also examined temperature relative to contributions of social behavior associated with breeding seasons, which may coincide with climatic shifts. We utilized 1921 hair samples from 580 subjects across six large outdoor‐housed mixed‐sex groups at the California National Primate Research Center to quantify the capacity for warmer or cooler outdoor temperatures to influence hair cortisol concentrations. We found that colder maximum temperature estimates over the days preceding hair sampling were associated with elevated hair cortisol concentrations, relative to warmer periods. Temperature contributed similarly in a model with a reduced data set (1418 samples) which included breeding‐associated social behaviors. Consortship behavior was associated with hair cortisol without temperature, but was not associated with temperature included. Aggression was associated with cortisol, with or without the inclusion of temperature. Outdoor temperature is an important confound or covariate to account for statistically or via careful study design. Inclusion is especially important among research projects reliant on hair cortisol from outdoor‐housed primates and spanning multiple seasons.
Alexander J. Pritchard 1,2*, Rosemary A. Blersch 1,2, Brenda McCowan 1,2, Jessica J. Vandeleest 1,2
1 California National Primate Research Center, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA
2 Department of Population Health & Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.j3tx95xp2
Description of the data and file structure
Data are contained within two *.rds files (Pritchard-et-al_HairCortData.rds; Pritchard-et-al_HairCortData_wBehavior.rds), accessible through the R programming language. Opened within R, these files contain the data necessary for the relevant paper’s analyses.
For Pritchard-et-al_HairCortData.rds, the dataframe contains 8 columns.
animid: subject animal ID codes, from 1:N, where N is the total number of study subjects.
x: a numeric row column.
Sex: subject animal’s sex
YOB: year of birth for the subject animal
Date: date of sampling event where hair cortisol sample was collected from the subject animal
CORT: hair cortisol concentration (pg/mg)
Group: animal social group that the subject ID was resident to
age: age (years) of subject animal
For Pritchard-et-al_HairCortData_wBehavior.rds, the dataframe contains 16 columns.
The first 8 columns are as described above. After these columns, this dataframe additionally includes:
Aff_Days: count of affiliation observation days in the relevant behavior period
Con_Giv: scaled measure of conflict given by the relevant animal, during the behavior period
Con_Rcv: scaled measure of conflict received by the relevant animal, during the behavior period
Con_Grp: scaled measure of conflict in the relevant group, during the behavior period
Grm_Giv: scaled measure of grooming given by the relevant animal, during the behavior period
Con_Rcv: scaled measure of grooming received by the relevant animal, during the behavior period
Con_Days: count of conflict observation days in the relevant behavior period
Consorts: scaled measure of the counts of unique consort dyads within the relevant behavior period
Sharing/Access information
Temperature data need to be obtain from the following source:
- Atmospheric Science Program, Land Air and Water Resources, University of California Davis, 2023. Atmospheric Science :: UC Davis Weather & Climate Stations [WWW Document]. URL https://atm.ucdavis.edu/weather/uc-davis-weather-climate-station/ (accessed 4.12.23).
- Menne, M.J., Durre, I., Korzeniewski, B., McNeill, S., Thomas, K., Yin, X., Anthony, S., Ray, R., Vose, R.S., Gleason, B.E., Houston, T.G., 2012. Global Historical Climatology Network - Daily (GHCN-Daily), Version 3. Station: USC00042294. https://doi.org/10.7289/V5D21VHZ
Code/Software
R software was used to complete the analyses. First, we need to append the temperature data from the above sources. Download the relevant temperature file from https://atm.ucdavis.edu/weather/uc-davis-weather-climate-station/ . At time of publication, this file was directly available here: https://apps.atm.ucdavis.edu/wxdata/data/ as “RRTa2m.zip”. Then execute Pritchard-et-al_HairCortAnalysesAppendTemp.R in your local R program. This code will append temperature columns to both of the included dataframes, adding the following columns:
T_max_HL: maximum temperature (ºC) measure assuming a linear decaying accrual over T_days (see supplementary information of main text).
T_min_HL: minimum temperature (ºC) measure assuming a linear decaying accrual over T_days (see supplementary information of main text).
T_days: days over which the temperature measure is aggregated/accrued
T_max_Mn: maximum temperature measure (ºC) assuming a mean accrual over T_days (see supplementary information of main text).
T_max_Mx: maximum temperature measure (ºC) assuming the maximum (warmest) value over T_days (see supplementary information of main text).
T_min_Mn: minimum temperature measure (ºC) assuming a mean accrual over T_days (see supplementary information of main text).
T_min_Mx: minimum temperature measure (ºC) assuming the minimum (coldest) value over T_days (see supplementary information of main text).
Details of analyses are in three *.R files (Pritchard-et-al_HairCortAnalysesA.R, Pritchard-et-al_HairCortAnalysesB.R, & Pritchard-et-al_HairCortAnalyses_wBehaviors.R). Open the first (Pritchard-et-al_HairCortAnalysesA), which will load in the data file and execute analyses. Pritchard-et-al_HairCortAnalysesB should be run only after Pritchard-et-al_HairCortAnalysesA.R. Pritchard-et-al_HairCortAnalyses_wBehaviors.R can run independently. Note that running all analyses will be computationally intensive.
Hair cortisol values sampled from six groups of outdoor-housed rhesus macaques.