Data from: Testing frameworks for early life effects: The developmental constraints and adaptive response hypotheses do not explain key fertility outcomes in wild female baboons
Data files
Apr 26, 2024 version files 1.78 MB
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conception_data_4.16.2024.csv
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conception_data_4.16.2024.dta
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conception_data_restricted_4.16.2024.csv
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conception_data_restricted_4.16.2024.dta
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infant_survival_data_4.16.2024.csv
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infant_survival_data_4.16.2024.dta
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live_birth_data_4.16.2024.csv
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live_birth_data_4.16.2024.dta
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README.md
Abstract
In evolutionary ecology, two classes of explanations are frequently invoked to explain "early life effects" on adult outcomes. Developmental constraints (DC) explanations contend that costs of early adversity arise from limitations adversity places on optimal development. Adaptive response (AR) hypotheses propose that later life outcomes will be worse when early and adult environments are poorly "matched." Here, we use recently proposed mathematical definitions for these hypotheses and a quadratic-regression based approach to test the long-term consequences of variation in developmental environments on fertility in wild baboons. We evaluate whether low rainfall and/or dominance rank during development predict three female fertility measures in adulthood, and whether any observed relationships are consistent with DC and/or AR. Neither rainfall during development nor the difference between rainfall in development and adulthood predicted any fertility measures. Females who were low-ranking during development had an elevated risk of losing infants later in life, and greater change in rank between development and adulthood predicted greater risk of infant loss. However, both effects were statistically marginal and consistent with alternative explanations, including adult environmental quality effects. Consequently, our data do not provide compelling support for either of these common explanations for the evolution of early life effects.
README
These data sets correspond to the analyses described in Rosenbaum et al. 2024, “Testing frameworks for early life effects: the developmental constraints and adaptive response hypotheses do not explain key fertility outcomes in wild female baboons.” (BIORXIV/2024/590627)
All three of the below data sets are described in detail in Section 2 and Tables 2 and 3 in the main text of the paper:
Conception data set (conception_data_4.16.2024.dta OR conception_data_4.16.2024.csv)
Live birth data set (live_birth_data_4.16.2024.dta OR live_birth_data_4.16.2024.csv)
Infant survival data set (infant_survival_data_4.16.2024.dta OR infant_survival_data_4.16.2024.csv)
The below data set is described in Section D and Table A5 in the supplementary materials:
Restricted version of the conception data set (conception_data_restricted_4.16.2024.dta OR conception_data_restricted_4.16.2024.csv)
Outcome variables (1 per data set; “conception” is the outcome in both conception_data_4.16.2024 and conception_data_restricted_4.16.2024)
conception: did the female subject conceive in the calendar month that corresponds with this observation, given that she was cycling on the first day of the calendar month (0=N, 1=Y)?
livebirth: did the female subject give birth to a live infant, given that she was pregnant (0=N, 1=Y)?
infsurvival: did the female subject’s infant live to 70 weeks, given that she gave birth to a live infant (0=N, 1=Y)?
Predictor variables (common to all four data sets)
age: age of the female subject when the fertility event occurred (described in detail in supplementary Table A.4)
age2: age variable squared
group: identifies the social group the female subject lived in when the fertility event occurred
grp_size: total number of animals living in the female subject’s social group when the fertility event occurred (described in detail in supplementary Table A.4)
id: identity of the female subject
e0rank: proportional rank that the subject’s mother held in the year following the subject’s birth (i.e., early life rank; described in detail in supplementary Tables A1-A3)
e1rank: proportional rank that the subject held when the fertility event occurred (i.e., adult rank; described in detail in Table 3 and Figure 1 in the main text, and in supplementary Tables A1-A3)
e0rain: mean monthly rainfall (in mm) in the first 12 months of the subject’s life (i.e., early life rainfall; described in detail in supplementary Tables A1-A3 )
e1rain: mean monthly rainfall (in mm) in the 12 months preceeding the fertility event (i.e., adult rainfall; described in detail in Table 2 and Figure 1 in the main text, and in supplementary Tables A1-A3)
rain_analysis_sample: indicates whether a given observation was used in the analyses that examine the effects of rainfall (0=was not used, 1=was used). In cases where this variable = 0, e0rain will be missing.
To replicate the analyses presented in the paper, please see the Stata code and the additional README available at https://github.com/anup-malani/rosenbaum_etal_2024_baboon_dc_ar_mismatch.