No difference in reproductive investment or success across urban and rural breeding pairs in an urban-adapted songbird
Data files
Sep 27, 2024 version files 44.20 KB
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egg.csv
24.81 KB
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incubation.csv
2.14 KB
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nest.success.csv
4.22 KB
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nestling.size.csv
7.71 KB
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provisioning.csv
1.90 KB
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README.md
3.43 KB
Abstract
Species classified as ‘urban-adapters’ are often assumed to thrive in cities because they are commonly found across the urbanization gradient. However, urban-living populations of many urban-adapted species have been found to have lower reproductive success relative to their rural counterparts. The European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) is a common urban-adapted species found across most of the globe; while starlings have lowered reproductive success in urban areas in their native range, less is known about how urbanization impacts reproduction in their invasive ranges. We tested for differences in reproductive investment and success across urban and rural starling populations in Georgia, which is part of their North American invasive range. We found few differences in reproductive output for urban versus rural starlings—clutch size, egg mass, egg volume, incubation behavior, provisioning rates, brooding behavior and nestling wing chord were all similar across starling populations from more urban and more rural study sites. While urban birds produced a higher number of hatchlings and rural birds produced young in higher body condition, neither of these factors influenced reproductive success because the number of fledglings produced were similar for urban and rural breeding starlings. Overall, European starlings in their invasive range performed similarly well in more urban versus more rural habitats. Future work should explore whether urbanization affects other components of fitness in starlings (e.g., adult survival).
README: No difference in reproductive investment or success across urban and rural breeding pairs in an urban-adapted songbird
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.3n5tb2rt7
Description of the data and file structure
Reproductive and environmental parameters collected for European starling nesting attempts from nest boxes in metro-atlanta.
Files and variables
File: egg.csv
Description: Data file for egg size analyses
Variables
- Nest.ID: Unique ID for nest box
- Urbanization Status: dichotomous score based on UrbanizationScore value (urban or rural)
- Nest Attempt: Ordinal value for how many nesting attempts the breeding pair have attempted
- Egg.ID: Unique ID for each egg
- Lay date: Date each egg was laid in nest
- Length (mm): continuous variable
- Width (mm): continuous variable
- Mass (g): continuous variable
- Egg Age (days): Age of egg from lay date of egg to present date
- Clutch size: Number of eggs total in the nest
- n/a values mean observation/measurement not collected
File: incubation.csv
Description: Data file for incubation behavior analyses
Variables
- Nest.ID: Unique ID for nest box
- Attempt: Ordinal value for how many nesting attempts the breeding pair have attempted
- Urbanization Status: dichotomous score based on UrbanizationScore value (urban or rural)
- Julian date: date of measurement as number of days elapsed since January 1st
- Incubation (% of time): Percentage of video length where a bird was inside the nest box
File: nest.success.csv
Description: Data file for clutch, hatchling and fledgling number analyses
Variables
- Nest.ID: Unique ID for nest box
- Nest attempt: Ordinal value for how many nesting attempts the breeding pair have attempted
- Urbanization status: dichotomous score based on UrbanizationScore value (urban or rural)
- Lay date: Date first egg was laid in nest
- Clutch size: Number of eggs total in the nest
- Hatchlings: Number of hatchlings total in the nest
- Fledglings: Number of hatchlings thought to leave the nest successfully. n/a means not collected/observed
File: nestling.size.csv
Description: Data file for chick size analyses
Variables
- Nest.ID: Unique ID for nest box
- Chick age: number of days elapsed from hatch date to present day
- Julian date: date of measurement as number of days elapsed since January 1st
- Urbanization Status: dichotomous score based on UrbanizationScore value (urban or rural)
- Attempt: Ordinal value for how many nesting attempts the breeding pair have attempted
- Mass (g): continuous variable
- Tarsus (mm): continuous variable
- Wing chord (mm): continuous variable
- n/a values mean observation/measurement not collected
File: provisioning.csv
Description: Data file for brooding and provisioning analyses
Variables
- Nest.ID: Unique ID for nest box
- Nest Attempt: Ordinal value for how many nesting attempts the breeding pair have attempted
- Urbanization status: dichotomous score based on UrbanizationScore value (urban or rural)
- Julian date: date of measurement as number of days elapsed since January 1st
- Provisioning (trips per hr): Number of times a bird entered the nest box with a piece of food calculated as a rate per hour
- Brooding (% of time): Percentage of video length where a bird was inside the nest box