The delayed effect of climatic conditions on pre-fledging nestling haematocrit in a suboscine species in Patagonia ...

Haematocrit, the proportion of blood comprising erythrocytes, is often used as a proxy of individual condition. Nestling haematocrit is influenced by several factors, but ambient temperature is generally agreed as a key driver. It is unclear which day(s) in embryonic or nestling development are most...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Churchill, Joseph, Birker, Martje, Versteegh, Maaike, Altamirano, Tomás, Vasquez, Rodrigo, Komdeur, Jan
Format: Dataset
Language:English
Published: Dryad 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.j6q573nk7
https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.j6q573nk7
Description
Summary:Haematocrit, the proportion of blood comprising erythrocytes, is often used as a proxy of individual condition. Nestling haematocrit is influenced by several factors, but ambient temperature is generally agreed as a key driver. It is unclear which day(s) in embryonic or nestling development are most influential in determining pre-fledgling haematocrit. This is important, because if we are able to identify what day(s) nestlings are physiologically most vulnerable to climatic conditions, this may inform future conservation management and help mitigate the effects. We investigated the effect of ambient temperature, precipitation, body size, brood size, age, food abundance and habitat on nestling haematocrit in Aphrastura spinicauda (thorn-tailed Rayaditos). We collected this data from two climatically different locations in Chile: Northern Patagonia (Pucón) and Sub-Antarctic Patagonia (Navarino Island), located ~1800 km further south. We aimed to identify the key drivers of nestling haematocrit and find when ... : Data were collected from two climatically contrasting sites in Chile: one on Navarino Island (54.932° S, 67.605° W), which was ~5 km in radius, and the other is in Pucón (39.272° S, 71.977° W), which was ~10 km in radius and ~1800 km north of the other population. Data were collected in two years from September 2018 – February 2019 and from September 2019 – February 2020, during the Rayadito breeding season. These data were stored and processed in Microsoft Excel and R in RStudio v3.5.3 statistical software. ...