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opencc-zeroJan 2024View details →

Data from: Comparison of pooled semen insemination and single colony insemination as sustainable honeybee breeding strategies

Instrumental insemination of honeybees allows for two opposing breeding strategies. In single colony insemination (SCI), all drones to inseminate a queen are taken from one colony. In pooled semen insemination (PSI), sperm of many genetically diverse drones is mixed and queens are fertilised from the resulting drone pool. While SCI allows for maximum pedigree control, proponents of PSI claim to reduce inbreeding and maintain genetic variance. Using stochastic simulation studies, we compared genetic progress and inbreeding rates in small honeybee populations under SCI and PSI. Four different selection criteria were covered: estimated breeding values (EBV), phenotypes, true breeding values (TBV), and random selection. Under EBV-based truncation selection, SCI yielded 9.0% to 44.4% higher genetic gain than PSI, but had vastly increased inbreeding rates. Under phenotypical or TBV selection, the gap between SCI and PSI in terms of genetic progress narrowed. Throughout, PSI yielded lower inbreeding rates than SCI, but the differences were only substantial under EBV truncation selection. As a result, PSI did not appear as a viable breeding strategy due to its incompatibility with modern methods of genetic evaluation. Instead, SCI is to be preferred but instead of strict truncation selection, strategies to avoid inbreeding need to be installed.

opencc-zeroJun 2024View details →

Data from: Effects of age, breeding strategy, population density, and number of neighbors on territory size and shape in Savannah Sparrows

The size and shape of an animal's breeding territory are dynamic features influenced by multiple intrinsic and extrinsic factors and can have important implications for survival and reproduction. Quantitative studies of variation in these territory features can generate deeper insights into animal ecology and behavior. We explored the effect of age, breeding strategy, population density, and number of neighbors on the size and shape of breeding territories in an island population of Savannah Sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis). Our dataset consisted of 407 breeding territories belonging to 225 males sampled over 11 years. We compared territory sizes to the age of the male territorial holder, the male's reproductive strategy (monogamy vs. polygyny), the number of birds in the study population (population density), and the number of immediate territorial neighbors (local density). We found substantial variation in territory size, with territories ranging over two orders of magnitude from 57 to 5727 m2 (0.0057 to 0.57 ha). Older males had larger territories, polygynous males had larger territories, territories were smaller in years with higher population density, and larger territories were associated with more immediate territorial neighbors. We also found substantial variation in territory shape, from near-circular to irregularly-shaped territories. Males with more neighbors had irregularly shaped territories, but the shape did not vary with male age, breeding strategy, or population density. For males that lived two years or longer, we found strong consistent individual differences in territory size across years, but weaker individual differences in territory shape, suggesting that size has high repeatability whereas shape has low repeatability. Our work provides evidence that songbird territories are highly dynamic and that their size and shape reflect both intrinsic factors (age and number of breeding partners) and extrinsic factors (population density and number of territorial neighbors).

opencc-zeroJun 2024View details →

Resource availability alters breeding strategies in a small mammal community

Following a resource pulse, animals may finance reproduction by consuming concurrently available resources (income breeding) or by storing resources for future reproduction (capital breeding). Understanding how these reproductive strategies are used is important for determining the ecological mechanisms that structure the timing of reproduction and that drive interannual population fluctuations in animals. We gathered a reproductive dataset for five small mammal species over a 12-year period in Northeastern USA during which six masting events of American beech (Fagus grandifolia) and eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) occurred. Masting created alternate years where seeds were either available late (masting year) or early (cached from the previous year) in the breeding season. The small mammal species differed in reliance on seeds and overwintering strategies. We quantified the diet using stable isotopes and recorded reproduction timing, proportion breeding, and litter size in females and testes size in males. Timing of seed availability minimally affected litter size but strongly affected proportion breeding and timing of reproduction. During masting years (late seed availability), a higher proportion of females reproduced, with breeding taking place later in the season (lactation timed with peak seed availability), although the delay was restricted in Napaeozapus insignis, an obligate hibernator. After a fall mast, cached seeds were used as capital in the following spring (early seed availability) to support a litter that, depending on the species, occurred 24 to 79 days sooner than a mast year. No late-season reproduction occurred in years with early seed availability except for Myodes gapperi which produced a second litter, likely financed by fungal consumption. Males also showed strong responses to seed availability, mirroring female reproduction with testes size staying constant in years with late seed availability and sharply decreasing over the breeding season in years with early seed availability. Our results highlight that although photoperiod and temperature broadly set the bounds of the breeding season in temperate environments, resource availability influences the reproductive strategies that species use, which in turn alters reproductive timing and can drive large inter-annual population fluctuations. Differences in overwintering strategies and diet may further modulate reproductive timing and output relative to resource pulses.

opencc-zeroJun 2024View details →

Data from: Stay or go? Changing breeding conditions affect sexual difference in colony attendance strategies of Atlantic puffins Fratercula arctica

Male and female birds have different interests in reproductive investment, which in turn may increase negative effects of poorer breeding conditions caused by e.g., climate change or ecosystem regime shifts. Using a 33-year time series with resightings of Atlantic puffins Fratercula arctica individually colour-ringed as breeders in previous years, we show that the difference in colony attendance of male and female birds depends on the environmental conditions for raising young, proxied by the average duration of the chick period and size of the herring Clupea harengus fed to the chicks in the colony each year. The longer the chick period, and thus the birds' overall investment in reproduction, the more was the sex ratio of adults sitting out on the colony surface biased in favour of males. An increase in herring size, indicating better feeding conditions for raising chicks, led to more observations of both sexes, and the increase was slightly more prominent for females than males. We discuss the results in relation to general life-history theory on sexual differences in trade-offs between individual investment in breeding and own survival. Our results suggest that females are increasingly more willing than males to invest in provisioning for the chick the longer the chick needs such care. This difference may also prove valuable as an indication of breeding conditions from only a short visit to a colony with colour-ringed birds of known sex.

Figure7 in Habitat-Based Breeding Strategies of Female Hoplobatrachus occipitalis (Anura: Dicroglossidae) from Daloa Department, Midwest of Côte d'Ivoire

Figure7. Regression between female size (SVL) and absolute fecundity (Fa) in Hoplobatrachus occipitalis from Fatiga and Zaliohouan in Daloa Department

Figure2 in Habitat-Based Breeding Strategies of Female Hoplobatrachus occipitalis (Anura: Dicroglossidae) from Daloa Department, Midwest of Côte d'Ivoire

Figure2. Size (SVL) frequency distribution of female Hoplobatrachus occipitalis from Fatiga and Zaliohouan in Daloa Department

Figure6 in Habitat-Based Breeding Strategies of Female Hoplobatrachus occipitalis (Anura: Dicroglossidae) from Daloa Department, Midwest of Côte d'Ivoire

Figure6. Spatial variability in egg diameter of female Hoplobatrachus occipitalis from Fatiga and Zaliohouan in Daloa Department

Figure5 in Habitat-Based Breeding Strategies of Female Hoplobatrachus occipitalis (Anura: Dicroglossidae) from Daloa Department, Midwest of Côte d'Ivoire

Figure5. Egg diameter frequency distribution of female Hoplobatrachus occipitalis from Fatiga and Zaliohouan in Daloa Department.

Figure4 in Habitat-Based Breeding Strategies of Female Hoplobatrachus occipitalis (Anura: Dicroglossidae) from Daloa Department, Midwest of Côte d'Ivoire

Figure4. Spatial variability in gonado-somatic index of female Hoplobatrachus occipitalis from Fatiga and Zaliohouan in Daloa Department

Figure3 in Habitat-Based Breeding Strategies of Female Hoplobatrachus occipitalis (Anura: Dicroglossidae) from Daloa Department, Midwest of Côte d'Ivoire

Figure3. Spatial variability in size (SVL) of female Hoplobatrachus occipitalis from Fatiga and Zaliohouan in Daloa Department

Figure8 in Habitat-Based Breeding Strategies of Female Hoplobatrachus occipitalis (Anura: Dicroglossidae) from Daloa Department, Midwest of Côte d'Ivoire

Figure8. Regression between female size (SVL) and egg diameter in Hoplobatrachus occipitalis from Fatiga and Zaliohouan in Daloa Department

opencc-zeroOct 2021View details →

Data for: The association between personalities, alternative breeding strategies, and reproductive success in dunnocks

Although consistent between-individual differences in behaviour (i.e. animal personality) are ubiquitous in natural populations, relatively few studies have examined how personalities influence the formation of social relationships. Yet, behavioural characteristics of both sexes might be key when it comes to pair-bond formation, and the cooperation with partners to successfully rear offspring. We here use a wild population of dunnocks (Prunella modularis) to first investigate whether individuals mate non-randomly (i.e. assortative mating) with regard to four behavioural traits – flight-initiation distance (FID), provisioning, activity, and vigilance – that differ in repeatability and have previously been associated with mating patterns and fitness in other species. Second, we test whether an individual's FID is associated with variability in the dunnocks' mating system (i.e. monogamous pairs vs. polygamous groups). Finally, we determine whether FID and provisioning of males and females associate with their reproductive success. We found no statistical support for assortative mating in FID between males and females. Interestingly, in polygamous groups, co-breeding males differed in their FIDs with dominant alpha-males having significantly shorter FIDs compared to subordinate beta-males. Moreover, there was evidence for assortative mating in provisioning for alpha-males and females in polygamous groups. We also found that male provisioning influenced reproductive success of both sexes, while female provisioning rates only positively correlated with her own but not their partner(s) reproductive output. Our results suggest that personality differences may have important implications for social relationships, the emergence of different mating patterns and ultimately reproductive success within populations.

opencc-by-4.0Oct 2024View details →

Yelkouan shearwater (Puffinus yelkouan) Maltese Islands' colony differences in feather corticosterone, bulk stable isotopes, mercury concentration, adult breeding success and foraging strategies

All data and scripts uploaded and described here are related to the manuscript being submitted under the title: "Feather corticosterone and stable isotopes explain fledging and adult breeding success in a burrow-nesting seabird, the Yelkouan shearwater Puffinus yelkouan", accepted for publication in Marine Biology (doi: 10.1007/s00227-025-04748-8). <h2>Adult Breeding success </h2> In the script “YESH_Malta_BreedingSuccess_DSR_Rmark.R” apparent breeding success and daily nest survival rates are estimated for yelkouan shearwater nests in Maltese colonies based on the nest log data found in “BreedingSuccessSummaryData.zip”. <h2>Nestling and fledgling feather growth, corticosterone, stable isotopes and mercury</h2> The R script “YESH_FeatherGrowth_CORT_SI_Hg_chicks_Malta_Script.R” was written to load, combine and analyse all the data related to measurements of nestling growth, feather corticosterone, bulk stable isotopes and mercury analysis. The folder “YESH_FeatherGrowth_CORT_SI_Hg_chicks_Malta_Data.zip” contains the files with these data as named and loaded in the script. The folder also contains the original outputs from the corticosterone measurements by plate, including standard curves, provided in the subfolder: “CORT_Output_by_plate”. Original outputs as sent from the LIENs laboratory for stable isotopes and mercury can be found in the subfolder “SI_Hg_Outputs”. <h2>Adult shearwater tracking data analysis</h2> The R script written to analyse gps-logger data is named: “YESH_RM_MJ_ChickRearPeriod_ForagingStrategies.R” Adult yelkouan shearwater gps-logger tracking data during the chick-rearing period from the two colonies compared, Majjistral (MJ) and Rdum tal-Madonna (RM): “YESH_Malta_RM_MJ_ChickRearPeriod.csv”. Apart from the consolidated form the tracking data from the chick-rearing period can be found on BirdLife International Seabird Tracking Database: 2012, 2013 & 2014: <a href="https://data.seabirdtracking.org/dataset/836">https://data.seabirdtracking.org/dataset/836</a> <a href="https://data.seabirdtracking.org/dataset/837">https://data.seabirdtracking.org/dataset/837</a> <a href="https://data.seabirdtracking.org/dataset/952">https://data.seabirdtracking.org/dataset/952</a> 2019: <a href="https://data.seabirdtracking.org/dataset/1935">https://data.seabirdtracking.org/dataset/1935</a> 2021: https://data.seabirdtracking.org/dataset/2223 https://data.seabirdtracking.org/dataset/2224 2022: <a href="https://data.seabirdtracking.org/dataset/1855">https://data.seabirdtracking.org/dataset/1855</a>  “TRACKID_2012_2022_DIAGNOSTICSV3.csv” describes the completeness of tracks based on visual assessment and is loaded during the running of the script. Output shapefiles produced by running the script are provided in the folder: “YESH_RM_MJ_ShapefileOutputs_KDE.zip”. <h2>Acknowledgements and Funding</h2> We are grateful to the German Ornithologists’ Society through which all laboratory analysis was funded with funds from the Ursula Honig estate. Tracking was funded under EU-LIFE+ Malta Seabird Project (LIFE10NAT/MT/090), EU-LIFE Artina (LIFE17 NAT/HR/000594) and EU-LIFE PanPuffinus! (LIFE19 NAT/MT/000982), co-financed respectively by the Maltese Ministry for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change; Ministry of Education and Employment and Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Rights. All handling and sampling of shearwaters were carried out under permits from the Environment & Resources Authority (ERA) and the Wild Birds Regulation Unit (WBRU). We thank all staff and volunteers of BirdLife Malta having taken part in fieldwork, and all members of the public who contact us for grounded shearwaters. We are grateful to Gaël Guillou of the platform “Analyses isotopiques” for running the stable isotope analyses and to Maud Brault-Favrou of the platform “Analyses élémentaires” for running Hg analyses, both at the LIENSs laboratory. Thanks are due to the CPER (Contrat de Projet Etat-Région) and the FEDER (Fonds Européen de Développement Régional) for funding the AMA and the IRMS of LIENSs. Contributor PB is an honorary member of the IUF (Institut Universitaire de France).