Data from: Changes in behavior are unable to disrupt a trophic cascade involving a specialist herbivore and its food plant ...

• Main Authors: Lohman, Madeleine G., Riecke, Thomas V., Acevedo, Cheyenne R., Person, Brian T., Schmutz, Joel A., Uher-Koch, Brian D., Sedinger, James S.
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2019
• Subjects: Carex subspathacea; Branta bernicla nigricans; black brant; gosling growth; lawn extent; Hoppner's sedge; Holocene; Brant; Yukon; Branta bernicla; Kuskokwim; Alaska
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vb653hv; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.vb653hv

Changes in ecological conditions can induce changes in behavior and demography of wild organisms, which in turn may influence population dynamics. Black brant (Branta bernicla nigricans) nesting in colonies on the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta (YKD) in western Alaska have declined substantially (~50%) since the turn of the century. Black brant are herbivores that rely heavily on Carex subspathacea (Hoppner's sedge) during growth and development. The availability of C. subspathacea affects gosling growth rates, which subsequently affect pre‐ and postfledging survival, as well as size and breeding probability as an adult. We predicted that long‐term declines in C. subspathacea have affected gosling growth rates, despite the potential of behavior to buffer changes in food availability during brood rearing. We used Bayesian hierarchical mixed‐effects models to examine long‐term (1987–2015) shifts in brant behavior during brood rearing, forage availability, and gosling growth rates at the Tutakoke River colony. We showed ... : Black brant Behavioral DataData was collected on the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, USA from 1987-2015. Observers stayed in towers with observation blinds and opportunistically selected broods to record behaviors for every minute in an hour. Some observations were shorter or longer than 60 minutes. Data was produced using program R from data collected in the field to calculate the proportion of time an individual spent on a behavior in an observation bout. Column Headers: YEAR is the year data was collected; DATE is the Julian date of the observation in the year data was collected; BAND is the leg band ID of the individual being observed; MBAND is the leg band ID of the brood's observed male; FBAND is the leg band ID of the brood's observed female; NUMGOS is the number of goslings observed; ZERO is the proportion of foraging behavior observed; ONE is the proportion of preening behavior observed; TWO is the proportion of alert while standing behavior observed; FOUR is the proportion of bathing behavior ...