Data from: Agonistic song rate positively correlates with male breeding success and avian malaria infection in Acrocephalus paludicola (Aquatic Warbler), a promiscuous songbird with female-only parental care
Data files
Aug 26, 2024 version files 21.54 KB
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fathersChicksSong.txt
11.79 KB
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README.md
4.49 KB
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repertoire.txt
5.26 KB
Abstract
The link between male song and reproductive success has been explored at length in socially monogamous birds, but results were inconsistent and under-represented socially non-monogamous species with uniparental care. Here, we evaluated whether metrics of male song in the aquatic warbler Acrocephalus paludicola, a promiscuous songbird with female-only care and large repertoires, are associated with fitness- and quality-related traits. We showed that the number of 9-day-old nestlings fathered and probability of avian malaria infection increased with the rate of agonistic song, produced in male-male interactions, and that male scaled mass index (proxy for energy reserves) positively correlated with the repertoire size. The male breeding success was not explained by repertoire size and song duty cycle. None of the song variables clearly explained the male return rate or change in the tarsus length (proxy for structural body size) and scaled mass index of the fathered chicks between days 2 and 9 post-hatch. No other relationships between the song characteristics and the inbreeding coefficient, scaled mass index, wing-length and Trypanosoma infection status of the males were supported, and Plasmodium infection was unrelated to the song duty cycle and repertoire size. We conclude that in male aquatic warblers the repertoire size could be a signal of early developmental stress or current body condition, and the agonistic song rate could be shaped by sexual selection and signal to females a genetic makeup that enhances survival upon infection by Plasmodium.
README: Data from: Agonistic song rate positively correlates with male breeding success and avian malaria infection in a promiscuous songbird with female-only parental care
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.jwstqjqjq
Description of the data and file structure
Data was collected to test the relationship between song features of male Aquatic Warblers and their fitness- as well as quality-related variables. We have submitted two datasets (repertoire.txt and fathersChicksSong.txt) and the R code used for statistical analysis (RCodeAWsongDryad.R).
Files and variables
File: repertoire.txt
Description: data on the males, including the studied song features, quality-related metrics, survival and breeding success
Variables
- MaleRing: colour ring code of the male
- SampleID: ID of the male blood sample used to determine SNP markers with RAD-seq
- rec_brood: was the male recorded only in the first brood-period (1st), only in the second brood-period (2nd) or in both (both)?
- MaleF_sexFiltered: inbreeding coefficient of the male
- CervusParentage2018: number of chicks assigned as sired young to the male in 2018 with the Cervus software
- Cervus2018Sired: whether or not the male produced young in 2018 (1=yes, 0=no)
- distNearestGenotypNest2018: distance between the male position, determined from coordinates averaged across all of its sightings (mist-netting, song-recording and ring recovery with a scope) to the nearest genotyped nest [m]
- distFatherNest2018: mean distance between the position of a male that produced young in 2018 (determined as above) and the nest(s) in which he produced young [m]; NA=not applicable (no young assigned)
- encounters: number of encounters of the male within the study plots and 150 off their borders, throughout the 2018 breeding season
- tarsus: the tarsus length of the male [mm]
- wing: the wing length of the male [mm]
- mass: the body mass of the male [g]
- ageBlood: the age class of the male in the year of blood-sampling: 2=in the second calendar year, 3=in the third calendar year, p1=past the first calendar year, p2=past the second calendar year, p3=past the third calendar year
- yearBlood: the year in which the male was blood-sampled
- dateBlood: the date when the male was blood-sampled (YYYY-MM-DD)
- dateBloodNum: the date when the male was blood-sampled converted to the numerical format, i.e the number of days past April 30 (May1=1, etc.)
- infectionHP: the status of* Plasmodium* infection of the male (0=uninfected, 1=infected)
- infectionTrypa: the status of Trypanosoma infection of the male (0=uninfected, 1=infected)
- StudyArea: name of the study area
- YrsObs2018_5yrs: the number of years during which the male was observed to breed in the study areas
- SongDutyPercent: the song duty cycle of the male (proportion)
- A_Time: the number of A-songs per second sung by the male
- Chao1: the estimated number of unique syllables sung by the male (i.e repertoire size)
File: fathersChicksSong.txt
Description: data on the young of the song-recorded males in 2018, including their body mass, tarsus length, father ID and mother ID, and the male song metrics
Variables
- maleID: ID of the father blood sample used to determine SNP markers with RAD-seq
- male_ring_cr: colour ring code of the father
- chickID: chick ID
- nest: nest ID
- day: day post-hatch when body mass and tarsus measurement was taken from the chick (2, 5 or 9)
- chickBM: body mass of the chick [g]
- chickTR: tarsus length of the chick [mm]
- BS: brood size in the nest on the given day
- femaleID: ID of the mother blood sample used to determine SNP markers with RAD-seq
- SongDuty: the song duty cycle of the father (proportion)
Chao1: the estimated number of unique syllables sung by the father (i.e repertoire size)
ATime: the number of A-songs per second sung by the father
NA is used throughout the datasets to mark an empty cell (i.e. for missing data or when something is not applicable).
File: RCodeAWsongDryad.R
Description: R code used for the statistical analysis, created using the R version v. 4.1.3 and and the R-Studio version 2024.04.2. The code is annotated throughout and has a list of contents.
Code/software
R (please see the description within the code file).
Methods
Please see the Methods section in the paper.
Methods
The data was collected from Aquatic Warblers in the Biebrza Valley, Poland, by ringing, blood-sampling, song-recording, nest-search and chick measurement. Body mass and tarsus length were taken from adult males and chicks. DNA was extracted from the blood samples and - using RAD-seq - inbreeding of the males was established and chick paternity was assigned to determine the breeding success of the males. Blood parasite infection was determined using PCR. Five-year return rate was established by resighting the colour-ringed males in consecutive years.