Data from: Effects of fleas on nest success of Arctic barnacle geese: experimentally testing the mechanism ...

Parasites have detrimental effects on their hosts’ fitness. Therefore, behavioural adaptations have evolved to avoid parasites or, when an individual is already in contact with a parasite, prevent or minimize infections. Such anti-parasite behaviours can be very effective, but can also be costly for...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: De Jong, Margje E., Loonen, Maarten J.J.E.
Format: Dataset
Language:English
Published: Dryad 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.80n9608
https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.80n9608
Description
Summary:Parasites have detrimental effects on their hosts’ fitness. Therefore, behavioural adaptations have evolved to avoid parasites or, when an individual is already in contact with a parasite, prevent or minimize infections. Such anti-parasite behaviours can be very effective, but can also be costly for the host. Specifically, ectoparasites can elicit strong host anti-parasite behaviours and interactions between fleas (Siphonaptera) and their hosts are one of the best studied. In altricial bird species, nest fleas can negatively affect both parent and offspring fitness components. However, knowledge on the effects of fleas on precocial bird species is scarce. Research on geese in the Canadian Arctic indicated that fleas have a negative impact on reproductive success. One possible hypothesis is that fleas may affect female incubation behaviour. Breeding females with many fleas in their nest may increase the frequency and/or duration of incubation breaks and could even totally desert their nest. The aim of our ... : deJong&Loonen2019_dataThis Excel file contains data we collected in the field and was used for analyses for our article. See the README file for explanations of sheets and column headers used in the Excel file. See our article for a detailed description of methods used. ...