GENERAL INFORMATION

Title: Plasticity in social behavior varies with reproductive status in an avian cooperative breeder
Authors: Jasmine Little a, Dustin R Rubenstein b,c, Sarah Guindre-Parker a
 
a Department of Ecology, Evolution, & Organismal Biology, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA
b Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology,  Columbia University, New York, NY
c Center for Integrative Animal Behavior, Columbia University, New York, NY 

Correspondence:
Kennesaw State University Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology 370 Paulding Ave NW, MD #1202 Kennesaw, GA 30144
Email: sguindre@kennesaw.edu
Phone: 1-470-578-3602  
Fax: 1-470-578-9326 

ABSTRACT
Cooperatively breeding vertebrates are common in unpredictable environments where the costs and benefits of providing offspring care fluctuate temporally. To balance these fitness outcomes, individuals of cooperatively breeding species often exhibit behavioral plasticity according to environmental conditions. Although individual variation in cooperative behaviors is well-studied, less is known about variation in plasticity of social behavior. Here, we examine the fitness benefits, plasticity, and repeatability of nest guarding behavior in cooperatively breeding superb starlings (Lamprotornis superbus). After demonstrating that the cumulative nest guarding performed at a nest by all breeders and helpers combined is a significant predictor of reproductive success, we model breeder and helper behavioral reaction norms to test the hypothesis that individuals invest more in guarding in favorable seasons with high rainfall. Variation in nest guarding behavior across seasons differed for individuals of different reproductive status: breeders showed plastic nest guarding behavior in response to rainfall, whereas helpers did not. Similarly, we found that individual breeders show repeatability and consistency in their nest guarding behavior while individual helpers did not. Thus, individuals with the potential to gain direct fitness benefits exhibit greater plasticity and individual-level repeatability in cooperative behavior.

DATA & FILE OVERVIEW
guarding plasticity code.R: R script file containing code for the analyses in the manuscript

guarding rep successV2.csv: csv dataset containing reproductive success outcomes

plasticity superbV2.csv: csv dataset containing guarding behavior and socio-ecological data 

DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: guarding rep successV2.csv
Each row of this dataset described the outcome at a nest. It includes details about the season when the nest was attempted (season, breeding rainfall, pre breeding rainfall), the contents of the nest (clutch size, number of young to fledge), as well as characteristics of the birds that tended to the nest (number of caretakers, total guarding provided).

VARIABLES: guarding rep successV2.csv
season: the season the observation was collected (either long or short rainy seasons)
social.group.ID: a unique identifying number for the social group the nest belonged to
breed.rain: sum rainfall in mm during the wet rainy season the observation was collected (see manuscript methods)
pre.rain: sum rainfall in mm during the dry season that preceded the rainy season when the observation was collected (see manuscript methods)
clutch.size: the number of eggs in the nest 
fledglings: the number of chicks that left the nest alive
res.caretakers: the residuals of a linear regression model of number of caretakers observed at the nest against the total  amount of time the nest was observed for
total guarding: the sum of guarding for all individual birds observed at the nest, where an individual’s guarding is calculated as the time an animal spent at the nest divided by the total amount of time the nest was observed for

DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: plasticity superbV2.csv
Each row of this dataset described the guarding behavior observation of one individual bird in one breeding season. It includes details about that individual (age, sex), the nest where they guarded (clutch size, other caretakers), the social group that individual belonged to (ID, relatedness), and the breeding season (year, season, breeding rainfall, pre breeding rainfall).

VARIABLES: plasticity superbV2.csv
year: the year the observation was collected
season: the season the observation was collected (either long or short rainy seasons)
social.group.ID: a unique identifying number for the social group the individual belonged to
bird.ID: a unique identifying number for each individual bird observed
sex: male or female
age: age in years of the bird at the time the observation was collected
clutch.size: the number of eggs in the nest where the animal provided care at the time the observation was collected
guarding: the time an animal spent at the nest divided by the total amount of time the nest was observed for
breed.rain: sum rainfall in mm during the wet rainy season the observation was collected (see manuscript methods)
pre.rain: sum rainfall in mm during the dry season that preceded the rainy season when the observation was collected (see manuscript methods)
res.caretakers: the residuals of a linear regression model of number of caretakers observed at the nest against the total  amount of time the nest was observed for
relatedness: the mean relatedness coefficient within the social group (see social.group.ID)