DOI: 10.5061/dryad.18931zct3
title: Effects of natal habitat preference induction on juvenile loon movements

description: NHPI develops in natural systems. Here, we tested for NHPI in juvenile
 common loons (Gavia immer) that foraged on lakes in the vicinity of their
 natal lake after fledging. Juveniles visited lakes similar in pH to their
 natal lakes, and this significant effect persisted after controlling for
 spatial autocorrelation. On the other hand, juveniles showed no preference
 for foraging lakes of similar size to their natal one. When lakes were
 assigned to discrete classes based on size, depth, visibility, and trophic
 complexity, both juveniles from large lakes and small lakes preferred to
 visit large, trophically diverse lakes, which contained abundant food. Our
 results contrast with earlier findings, which show strict preference for
 lakes similar in size to the natal lake among young adults seeking to
 settle on a breeding lake. We suggest that NHPI is relaxed for juveniles,
 presumably because they select lakes that optimize short-term survival and
 growth. By characterizing NHPI during a poorly-studied life-stage, this
 study illustrates that NHPI can take different forms at different life
 stages.
description: Master_NHPI_Loon_Juveniles.csv: Dataset represents the 85
 instances (in rows) of juvenile loon visitations to other lakes recorded
 between 2012 and 2015 that were used in the study. Column
 variables consist of chick(s) IDs, natal lake territory, the destination
 lake territory that chicks were observed visiting, the observer, date and
 time of day for the observation.  For each lake type (Natal vs.
 Destination), we include column variables for: Latitude; Longitude; pH
 replicate measurements; secchi replicates; lake depth (m); lake size (ha);
 lake roundness, and the class of the lake taken from the Trophic Lakes
 classificaiton dataset available from: Rypel et al. (2019) Rypel AL, Simonson TD, Oele DL, et al (2019) Flexible Classification of Wisconsin Lakes for Improved Fisheries Conservation and Management. Fisheries 44:225–238. https://doi.org/10.1002/fsh.10228 Lake_location_size_chemistry.csv: Dataset represents lake variables and associated information recorded for all lakes within the general study area.  Lake names and ID numbers are listed, followed by spatial coordinate data in a veriety of formats and physical lake variables measured in a number of replicates for depth, pH, size, roundness, and clarity (secchi). 
description: For analysis, replicates in the Master_NHPI_Juvnile_Loon dataset
 are averaged into a mean unit measurement, and basic statistics (mean and
 SE) for Destination lake variables are computed.  This dataset is then
 paired with the larger lake dataset containing physical variables for ALL
 lakes (i.e. Basic Features dataset) to construct the randomization
 analyses used in the study. Replicate measurements for
 Secchi, pH, and roundness are also present in the Basic_Features dataset. 
 These values are averaged to provide a mean value for each lake when used
 in analysis.  Prior to randomization analysis, we
 filter the lakes in the Basic Features dataset to remove lakes smaller
 than 10ha as such small lakes are typically unsuitable for loons. In
 randomizaiton analyses, lakes with missing values are ignored. For
 example, if a lake in the Basic Features dataset has pH values but not
 Secchi measurements, it would be used in the randomzation analysis for pH
 but not for Secchi.