DOI: 10.5061/dryad.bg79cnpg7
title: Sexes in sync: phenotypic plasticity, sexual selection, and phenological synchrony between the sexes in a wild hibernator

description: Desynchrony of phenological responses to climate change is a major concern
 in ecological communities. Potential uncoupling between one of the most
 fundamental divisions within populations, males and females, has not been
 well studied. To address this gap, we examined sex-specific plasticity in
 hibernation phenology in two populations of Columbian ground squirrels
 (Urocitellus columbianus). We find that both sexes display similar
 phenological plasticity to spring snowmelt dates in their timing of torpor
 termination and behavioural emergence from hibernation. As a result of
 this plasticity, the degree of protandry (i.e., males’ emergences from
 hibernation preceding those of females) did not change significantly over
 the 27-year study. Earlier male behavioural emergence, relative to
 females, improved the likelihood of securing a breeding territory and
 increased annual reproductive success. Sexual selection favouring earlier
 male emergence from hibernation may maintain protandry in this population
 but did not contribute to further advances in male phenology. Older males
 also tended to emerge earlier and secure territories, and so it is unclear
 whether selection acts indirectly through age. Together, our results
 provide evidence that the sexes should remain synchronised, at least in
 response to the weather variation investigated here, and further support
 the role of sexual selection in the evolution of protandry in sexually
 reproducing organisms.
description: Long-term dataset monitoring populations of Columbian ground
 squirrels in Alberta, Canada. 
description: Datasets provided in .csv format and code to replicate analyses
 are in R script format (https://www.r-project.org/).
description: # Sexes in sync: phenotypic plasticity, sexual selection, and phenological
 synchrony between the sexes in a wild hibernator By Megan J. Thompson, F.
 Stephen Dobson, David W. Coltman, Jan O. Murie, Shirley Raveh, Jeffrey E.
 Lane ## Description of the data and file structure File list *
 "KiteField\_PhysEmerg\_SexesInSync.csv" *
 "MeadowB\_BehavEmerg\_SexesInSync.csv" *
 "MeadowB\_Territoriality\_SexesInSync.csv" *
 "MeadowB\_Selection\_SexesInSync.csv" *
 "KiteField\_PhysEmerg\_SexesInSync.csv": Data from Kite Field
 population includes individual phenological dates for physiological
 emergence from torpor and behavioural emergence from hibernation in
 relation to annual snow melt dates. Column: Description $ YEAR : Year of
 study $ EGO.ID : Individual ID $ AGE : Age of individual when observed
 (years) $ EMG.DT : Date of behavioural emergence from hibernation in
 Julian days (days since Jan 1) $ PHYS.DT : Date of physiological emergence
 from torpor in Julian days (days since Jan 1) $ SEX : M = Male, F = Female
 $ snow : Date of annual snow melt in Julian days (days since Jan 1) $
 xbarsnow : Between snow melt effect (average date of snowmelt an
 individual experienced over their lifetime) $ xminusxbarsnow: Within snow
 melt effect (annual date of snowmelt minus the average snow melt
 experienced by an individual over their lifetime) $ repeats : Whether an
 individual had more than one observation where R = repeated observations,
 N = No repeated observations
 "MeadowB\_BehavEmerg\_SexesInSync.csv": Data from Meadow B
 population includes individual phenological dates for behavioural
 emergence from hibernation in relation to annual snow melt dates. Column:
 Description $ YEAR : Year of study $ EGO.ID : Individual ID $ AGE : Age of
 individual when observed (years) $ EMG.DT : Date of behavioural emergence
 from hibernation in Julian days (days since Jan 1) $ SEX : M = Male, F =
 Female $ snow : Date of annual snow melt in Julian days (days since Jan 1)
 $ xbarsnow : Between snow melt effect (average date of snowmelt an
 individual experienced over their lifetime) $ xminusxbarsnow: Within snow
 melt effect (annual date of snowmelt minus the average snow melt
 experienced by an individual over their lifetime) $ repeats : Whether an
 individual had more than one observation where R = repeated observations,
 N = No repeated observations
 "MeadowB\_Territoriality\_SexesInSync.csv": Data from Meadow B
 population includes phenological dates for behavioural emergence from
 hibernation in relation to the average annual female emergence dates and
 whether an individual was territorial or not. Column: Description $ YEAR :
 Year of study $ EGO.ID : Individual ID $ EMG.DT : Date of behavioural
 emergence from hibernation in Julian days (days since Jan 1) $ AvgFemEmg :
 Average female annual behavioural emergence date in Julian days (days
 since Jan 1) $ RelFemEMG : Relative behavioural emergence date to the
 average annual female emergence date (I.e., EMG.DT - AvgFemEmg) $
 Territorial: 1 = Secured breeding territory, 0 = Did not secure breeding
 territory $ AGE : Age of individual between 2 - 9 years old
 "MeadowB\_Selection\_SexesInSync.csv": Data from Meadow B
 population includes phenological dates for behavioural emergence from
 hibernation in relation to the average annual female emergence dates and
 reproductive success. Column: Description $ YEAR : Year of study $ EGO.ID
 : Individual ID $ AGE : Age of individual when observed (years) $ SEX : M
 = Male $ EMG.DT : Date of behavioural emergence from hibernation in Julian
 days (days since Jan 1) $ AvgFemEMG : Average female annual behavioural
 emergence date in Julian days (days since Jan 1) $ RelFemEMG : Relative
 behavioural emergence date to the average annual female emergence date
 (I.e., EMG.DT - AvgFemEmg) $ RS\_offspring: Reproductive success measured
 as the number of offspring weaned $ RelRS : Relative annual reproductive
 success ## Sharing/Access information Data was derived from the ongoing
 long-term data collection efforts by Jeff Lane and Stephen Dobson. For
 sharing and access permission please contact either data owners. ###
 Code/Software Data compiled and analysed using R script:
 "Analyses\_SexesInSync.R" with free open software R
 (https://www.r-project.org/)