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                                BREEDING BLUE TIT PHENOTYPES DATA PACKAGE
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Kate E Plummer (KEP), VERSION V01 2018-03-02

This "readme" provides a description of the dataset that accompanies the paper:
    Plummer, K.E., Bearhop S., Leech, D.I., Chamberlain, D.E. & Blount, J.D. 2018.
    Effects of winter food provisioning on the phenotypes of breeding blue tits. 
    Ecology and Evolution. 

Dataset name:
    Plummer_BTphenotypes_dataset.csv
    
Description:
    Data describing phenotypic condition and productivity of breeding blue tits in 2008-2010 following experimental food 
    supplementation in winter.  Phenotypic condition measures include concentrations of total carotenoids in feathers,
    plasma concentrations of total carotenoids, alpha-tocopherol and malondialdehyde (MDA), and body mass.  Measures of 
    breeding productivity include lay date, numbers of offspring hatched and fledged, and mean nestling mass and 
    head-bill length.
            
When using the data, please cite the original publication and the Dryad data package.


** METHODOLGICAL DETAILS **********************************************************************************************
    
Please refer to the paper for an explanantion of how the data were collected and analysed.

    
** DATA DESCRIPTION ***************************************************************************************************

Variable names and descriptions for Plummer_BTphenotypes_dataset.csv
The dataset contains 351 rows and 21 columns
Missing values are labelled "NA"    

    VARIABLE        DESCRIPTION

    birdID          Breeding bird identity (BTO ring number)
    site            Woodland site code
    box             Nest box identity
    pair            Breeding pair identity
    year            Breeding season year (2008; 2009; 2010)
    treatment       Winter supplementary feeding treatment (unfed; fat; fat+VE)

    Phenotype variables:
    sex             Sex (F; M)
    age             Age (1; >1)
    effort          Reproductive effort at sampling
    headbill        Head-bill length (accurate +/-0.05mm, averaged over two readings)
    fcaro           Feather total carotenoid concentration (microgram/g)
    patoc           Plasma alpha-tocopherol concentration (microgram/ml)
    pcaro           Plasma total carotenoid concentration (microgram/ml)
    pmda            Plasma MDA concentration (microgram/ml)
    mass            Body mass (accurate to +/-0.1g)

    Productivity variables:
    laydate         Lay date (1 = 1st April)
    nhatched        Number of nestlings hatched
    nfledged        Number of nestlings fledged
    chick_age       Nestling age at sampling (days)
    chick_mass      Mean nestling body mass (accurate to +/-0.1g)
    chick_headbill  Mean nestling head-bill length (accurate +/-0.05mm, averaged over two readings)


** CONTACT INFORMATION ************************************************************************************************

Please get in touch if you are considering using this data and would like further information.

Dr Kate E Plummer                           Dr Jon D Blount
British Trust for Ornithology               Centre for Ecology and Conservation
The Nunnery                                 College of Life & Environmental Sciences
Thetford                                    University of Exeter
Norfolk                                     Penryn Campus
IP24 2PU                                    Cornwall
UK                                          TR10 9EZ
                                            UK

Phone:  +44 (0)1842 750050                  Phone:  +44 (0)1326 371877   
E-mail: kate.plummer@bto.org                E-mail: j.d.blount@exeter.ac.uk


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