Data from: Age-dependent shaping of the social environment in a long-lived seabird – A quantitative genetic approach
Data files
Sep 20, 2024 version files 142.72 KB
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Moiron_and_Bouwhuis_Phil_Transc_Dataset_Dryad.csv
139.30 KB
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README.md
3.43 KB
Abstract
Individual differences in social behaviour can result in fine-scale variation in spatial distribution and, hence, the social environment experienced. Given the expected fitness consequences associated with differences in social environments, it is imperative to understand the factors that shape it. One potential such factor is age. Age-specific social behaviour, often referred to as “social ageing”, has only recently attracted attention, requiring more empirical work across taxa. Here, we use 29 years of longitudinal data collected in a pedigreed population of long-lived, colonially breeding common terns (Sterna hirundo) to investigate sources of variation in, and quantitative genetic underpinnings of, an aspect of social ageing: the shaping of the social environment experienced, using the number of neighbours during breeding as a proxy. Our analyses reveal age-specific declines in the number of neighbours during breeding, as well as selective disappearance of individuals with a high number of neighbours. Moreover, we find this social trait, as well as individual variation in the slope of the age-specific decline, to be heritable. These results suggest that social ageing might underpin part of the variation in the overall, multicausal ageing phenotype, as well as undergo micro-evolution, highlighting the potential role of social ageing as a facilitator for, or constraint of, the evolutionary potential of natural populations.
README: Data from: Age-dependent shaping of the social environment in a long-lived seabird – A quantitative genetic approach
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4mw6m90kz
Description of the data and file structure
Data used for models presented in:
Age-dependent shaping of the social environment in a long-lived seabird – a quantitative genetic approach by Moiron M., and Bouwhuis S. published in the special issue "Understanding age and society using natural populations" of Philosophical Transactions B
For information regarding the analyses, please contact mariamoironc@gmail.com
For information regarding the data, please contact sandra.bouwhuis@ifv-vogelwarte.de
If you'd like to use the data, please also contact sandra.bouwhuis@ifv-vogelwarte.de
These data are part of those collected in an ongoing individual-based longitudinal population study additional data are likely to be available, and we are often very happy to collaborate provided that none of our own staff or students is working on a conflicting project.
Files and variables
File: Moiron_and_Bouwhuis_Phil_Transc_Dataset_Dryad.xlsx
Description:
Variables
- ID.identity: individual unique identifier
- year: year of breeding (i.e., of measurement)
- Laying.date: date of the first egg laid by a female in her first clutch of the season (January 1st =1)
- age: age of the individual, measured in years after hatching (being 0 = hatching, 1= one year old, and so on)
- Npairs: total number of breeding pairs in a given year, being our metric of population density
- n.neigbors.4w.ahead.1m: number of active breeding neighbours in a 1-m radius from the focal female in a given year, an active neighbour being any bird that initiated its clutch four weeks before the laying date of the focal bird
- n.neigbors.4w.ahead.2m: number of active breeding neighbours in a 2-m radius from the focal female in a given year, an active neighbour being any bird that initiated its clutch four weeks before the laying date of the focal bird
- n.neigbors.4w.ahead.3m: number of active breeding neighbours in a 3-m radius from the focal female in a given year, an active neighbour being any bird that initiated its clutch four weeks before the laying date of the focal bird
- n.neigbors.4w.ahead.4m: number of active breeding neighbours in a 4-m radius from the focal female in a given year, an active neighbour being any bird that initiated its clutch four weeks before the laying date of the focal bird
Files
This repository contains R-codes used for a project on quantitative genetics of social ageing using data from a wild common tern population. Specifically, the repository contains R-codes used in the following study:
Moiron M, Bouwhuis S. Age-dependent shaping of the social environment in a long-lived seabird – a quantitative genetic approach. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0465
For any further information, please contact: Maria Moiron, email: mariamoironc@gmail.com
Code: All R code is available in the main folder and scripts are numbered in order of use from 001 to 004. Scripts titles should be self-explanatory, but each script contains a "Description of script and Instructions" section with further information.