DOI: 10.5061/dryad.0gb5mkmc7
title: Poor developmental conditions decrease adult body size and egg size, but not egg laying rate and survival throughout adulthood: A long-term experiment in a precocial bird

description: The quality of the environment during individual development is generally
 considered to have long-lasting effects on performance in adulthood, but
 this is mainly based on observational studies that cannot pinpoint the
 causal pathways behind such long-term effects. In this study, we performed
 a randomized controlled trial to test for causal effects of a poor rearing
 diet on performance in growth, reproduction, and survival, over the
 complete life course of female Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica). All
 individuals were housed under standardized conditions as adults, to allow
 separating effects of the developmental environment from effects of the
 adult environment. The poor rearing diet led to a dramatically reduced
 growth, which delayed the onset of reproduction, and resulted in a reduced
 body size throughout adulthood, as compared to a standard rearing diet.
 While there were no detectable effects on age-specific egg laying rate and
 survival, despite strong senescence in these fitness traits, females
 reared with the poor diet did lay smaller eggs. Hence, although there was
 no effect of the poor developmental environment on female laying rate and
 survival per se, the developmental environment of a mother did affect her
 adult size and the environment she provides for her offspring during
 embryonic development. We suggest that the effects on female adult size
 and egg size may cause ‘silver spoon’ effects in the wild, if larger size
 provides an advantage in competition over resources. However, we cannot
 rule out that smaller size would lead to lower food requirements, thereby
 acting as a ‘predictive adaptive response’ to a poor environment.
description: All data represent raw growth, survival and egg-laying data at
 various life stages over the complete lifespan of female Japanese Quail,
 collected from a captive population kept at the Institute of Avian
 Research in Wilhelmshaven, Germany.
description: # Poor developmental conditions decrease adult body size and egg size, but
 not egg laying rate and survival throughout adulthood: A long-term
 experiment in a precocial bird
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.0gb5mkmc7](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.0gb5mkmc7) ## Description of the data and file structure Data on growth, age of sexual maturity, adult age-specific body mass, adult tarsus length, lifespan, and age-specific egg-laying rate, and egg mass, of Japanese Quail (*Coturnix japonica*), analysed in relation to their rearing diet. All individuals were bred, kept, and monitored over their complete lifespan at the Institute of Avian Research in Wilhelmshaven, Germany.  ### Files and variables #### File: Diet\_paper\_raw\_data.xlsx **Description:** 4 separate worksheets for 1) data on the growth in body mass for all individuals, 2) data on the adult age-specific body mass for all individuals, 3) data on the adult tarsus length, age at sexual maturity, and lifespan of all individuals, and 4) and data on age-specific daily egg laying rate, and egg mass, of all individuals. The variable definitions apply to all worksheets in which they are listed. Missing values are coded as 'n/a'. ##### Variables • Hatching year = The year in which the individual hatched. • Individual_ID = = A unique identifier of the individual. • Father_ID = A unique identifier of the father of the individual. • Mother_ID = A unique identifier of the mother of the individual. • Diet = A categorical variable that represents whether the individual was reared with a poor or standard rearing diet. • Chick body mass = The current body mass of the individual, when measured at the chick stage (in g). • Age = The current age of the individual (in days). • Body_mass = The current body mass of the individual, when measured at the adult stage (in g). • Lifespan = The age, in days, at which the individual died. • Tarsus = The length of the tarsus, when measured at the adult stage (in mm). • Age_mature = The age, in days, at which an individual started the onset of egg laying. • Egg = A binary number representing whether an individual laid an egg that day (1 = yes, 0 = no). • Egg_mass = The fresh mass of the egg that was laid that day (in g). ## Code/software The Excel worksheet was used in the basic version (.xlsx) and loaded in the R software (version 4.1.3, R Foundation for Statistical Computing). ## Access information Other publicly accessible locations of the data: * none Data was derived from the following sources: * n.a.