DOI: 10.5061/dryad.3n2j5
title: Data from: Body condition indices predict reproductive success but not survival in a sedentary, tropical bird

description: Body condition may predict individual fitness because those in better
 condition have more resources to allocate towards improving their fitness.
 However, the hypothesis that condition indices are meaningful proxies for
 fitness has been questioned. Here, we ask if intraspecific variation in
 condition indices predicts annual reproductive success and survival. We
 monitored a population of Neochmia phaeton (crimson finch), a sedentary,
 tropical passerine, for reproductive success and survival over four
 breeding seasons, and sampled them for commonly used condition indices:
 mass adjusted for body size, muscle and fat scores, packed cell volume,
 hemoglobin concentration, total plasma protein, and heterophil to
 lymphocyte ratio. Our study population is well suited for this research
 because individuals forage in common areas and do not hold territories
 such that variation in condition between individuals is not confounded by
 differences in habitat quality. Furthermore, we controlled for factors
 that are known to impact condition indices in our study population (e.g.,
 breeding stage) such that we assessed individual condition relative to
 others in the same context. Condition indices that reflect energy reserves
 predicted both the probability of an individual fledging young and the
 number of young produced that survived to independence, but only during
 some years. Those that were relatively heavy for their body size produced
 about three times more independent young compared to light individuals.
 That energy reserves are a meaningful predictor of reproductive success in
 a sedentary passerine supports the idea that energy reserves are at least
 sometimes predictors of fitness. However, hematological indices failed to
 predict reproductive success and none of the indices predicted survival.
 Therefore, some but not all condition indices may be informative, but
 because we found that most indices did not predict any component of
 fitness, we question the ubiquitous interpretation of condition indices as
 surrogates for individual quality and fitness.
description: 2 yrs data for PCA on
 reproductive success2 yrs data for PCA
 31May2013_use.csv4 yrs data for PCA on
 reproductive success4 yrs data PCA
 31May2013.csv2 years data for PCA on
 survival2
 years data_survival_PCA.csv4 years data for PCA on
 survival4
 years data_survival_PCA.csv2 years data for
 survival analysis2 years data_survival_with
 HLAllOlya and Time.txt4 years data for
 survival analysis4 years data_survival_with
 Time.txt2 years data for
 reproductive success analysis (binomial fledged
 response)2
 yrs data binomial
 fledged_31May2013.csv4 years data for
 reproductive success analysis (binomial fledged
 response)4
 yrs data binomial fledged
 31May2013.csv2 years data for
 reproductive success analysis (poisson fledged response)2 yrs data poisson
 fledged_31May2013.csv4 years data for
 reproductive success analysis (poisson fledged response)4 yrs data poisson fledged
 31May2013.csv2 years data for
 reproductive success analysis (poisson independent young
 response)2
 yrs data poisson
 independent_31May2013.csv4 years data for
 reproductive success analysis (poisson independent young
 response)4
 yrs data poisson independent
 31May2013.csv