DOI: 10.5061/dryad.f1vhhmgw5
title: Data from: Urban links to molt schedule, body condition, and carotenoid-based coloration in the house finch (Haemorhous mexicanus)

description: Animals in urban environments are exposed to novel conditions, such as
 habitat and dietary alterations, and night-time light pollution, that can
 shift the timing and expression of life-history traits. Birds are popular
 urban-ecological study subjects, and in these feathered animals regular
 plumage molt is a critical process for maintenance of feather quality and
 their associated functions (e.g., thermoregulation, aerodynamics, and
 communicative coloration). We hypothesized that environmental changes
 associated with urbanization might affect the timing and progression of
 molt. As molt is energetically and nutritionally costly, we also tested
 whether putative urban-rural molt differences might be explained by
 indirect effects of urban environments on aspects of health (i.e. body
 condition, sexually selected plumage color). We tracked body molt
 intensity during molt onset, peak, and completion in both sexes of urban
 and rural house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus), and related this to body
 condition and sexually selected carotenoid-based plumage coloration. We
 found that urban birds began molting earlier, peaked at a lower molt
 intensity, and ended molt later than rural conspecifics. We also find that
 both body condition and plumage hue in males explain variation in body
 molt intensity differently for urban and rural populations at various
 points during the molting period. Overall, we demonstrate that songbird
 molt patterns and the development of carotenoid-based sexual ornaments can
 be altered in urban environments, and that rapid urbanization may have
 broader implications for molt dynamics, annual life-history traits, and
 sexual selection.
description: Column "ID" shows specific bird ID. Column
 "Week" corresponds to the week of the study that row of data
 were generated from. Column "Period" refers to the period of
 molt: Beginning, middle, or end. Column "Site" refers to the
 locale at which the individual bird was captured, meaured, and released.
 Column "Urbanization" refers to the degree of urbanization at
 the site of capture, either urban or rural. Column "Recap"
 refers to whether that specific row details data from a bird that was
 captured earlier in the study. Column "Sex" refers to the sex of
 the individual, either M for male, F for female, or U for unknown. Column
 "Age" refers to the age of the individual, either HY for
 hatch-year, or AHY for after hatch-year. Column "Tarsus" refers
 to the length of the tarsometatarsus bone, measured in mm. Column
 "Mass" refers to the individual's mass, measured in g.
 Column "Molt" refers to the number of growing feathers in the
 breast, rump and crown, combined. Column "Date" refers to the
 date of capture, measurement, and release. Columns "BHue1", 
 "BHue2",  "CHue1", 
 "CHue2",  "RHue1",  "RHue2", refer to the
 hue measurements (in degrees) extracted from either the first or second
 photo of that region, where B = breast, C = crown, and R = rump.
 "BHueAve", "CHueAve", "RHueAve" refer to the
 average of the two replicate photos.
 "BPresence", "CPresence", "RPresence" refer
 to the binary presence (Y) or absence (N) of color in the corresponding
 patch, where B = breast, C = crown, and R = rump. Column "GHue"
 refers to the average of hue measurements across all present color patches
 in that individual. Column "ColPresence" refers to whether at
 least one of the three patches had visibile color (N) or not (Y)