Data from: Complete brood failure in an altricial bird is almost always associated with the sudden and permanent disappearance of a parent

Santema, Peter, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology

Kempenaers, Bart, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology

Published Apr 27, 2019 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.92961m4

Cite this dataset

Santema, Peter; Kempenaers, Bart (2019). Data from: Complete brood failure in an altricial bird is almost always associated with the sudden and permanent disappearance of a parent [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.92961m4

Abstract

1) A central goal in evolutionary ecology is to identify factors that explain variation in reproductive success, i.e. in the number of offspring produced. In altricial birds, a substantial part of this variation is determined by the number of nestlings that die before fledging, but the proximate cause of offspring mortality at a given nest is often unknown. 2) We used a uniquely comprehensive dataset of parental nestbox visits from seven breeding seasons to investigate the association between parental behaviour and nestling mortality in a population of blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus). 3) In almost all nests that suffered complete brood mortality one of the parents had suddenly disappeared during the nestling stage. In contrast, parental disappearance in nests with partial brood mortality was rare and equally common as in nests with no brood loss. 4) With few exceptions, parents that disappeared during the nestling stage were never observed again and never returned to breed. In contrast, parents that remained after their partner disappeared were equally likely to be observed again or return to breed as parents of nests where both parents stayed. Visit rates at nests where a parent would disappear did not differ from those at nests where both parents stayed. 5) Taken together, our results show that - in contrast to partial brood failure - complete brood failure is almost always associated with the sudden and permanent disappearance of one of the parents, probably due to predation. Partial and complete brood mortality should therefore be treated as distinct processes that have different underlying causes.

Usage notes

Santema_Kempenaers_2018_JAE

year_ = year, box = box identity, nest = nest identity, ID_male = male identity, ID_female = female identity, transp_male = male transponder identity, transp_female = female transponder identity, firstEgg = date of first egg, hatchDate = date of hatching, fledgeDate = data of fledging, hatched = number of hatchlings, fledged = number of fledglings, died = number of hatchlings that died before fledging, survival = proportion of hatchlings that fledged, success = fledglings produced (0=no, 1=yes), successCat = nest success categorised, date = date, chickAge = chick age in days (hatching day = 0), rate_male = number of nest visits by male, rate_female = number of nest visits by female, rate_male_rel = relative nest visit rate of male, rate_female_rel = relative nest visit rate of female, maleStart = chick age of fist recorded male visit (can be >0 if tagged after chicks hatched), femaleStart= chick age of fist recorded female visit (can be >0 if tagged after chicks hatched), maleEnd = chick age of last recorded male visit , femaleEnd = chick age of fist recorded female visit , parentleft = one parent stopped visiting before the other parent and before the chicks reached fledging age (0=no, 1=yes), firstleaver = parent who stopped visiting nest first and before chick reached fledging age (1=male stopped visiting first, 2=female stopped visiting first, 0=no parent stopped visiting or both parents stopped visiting on same day), male_seen = male recorded again by SNB system after breeding attempt, female_seen = female recorded again by SNB system after breeding attempt, breedAgainMale = male breeding again in our population after breeding attempt, breedAgainFemale = female breeding again in our population after breeding attempt, age_male = male age (0=yearling, 1=adult), age_female = female age (0=yearling, 1=adult)