DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.25360276
title: Behavioural analysis of flamingos and other waterbirds

description: This repository contains the four files associated with our forthcoming study, "<i>What influences feather care and unipedal resting in flamingos? Adding evidence to clarify behavioural anecdotes</i>", published in <i>Applied Animal Behaviour Science</i>.File #1) "Flamingo Behaviour Analyses.R" - this R script contains all of the analytical code used in the statistical tests reported in our study.File #2) "FlamingoData.csv" - this csv file contains all of the data used in the analyses reported in our study. It is required to run the code in the previous R script file. Columns A to F pertain to the meta-analysis of waterbird preening behaviour, whilst columns G to W pertain to the two analyses of WWT Slimbridge flamingo data (time spent on one leg and time spent preening). The data contained within the columns are as follows:Column A "MetaPreen" = a continuous variable that represents the % of observed time spent by a focal waterbird population on preening behaviour, extracted from a published study (see File #4).Column B "Order" = a categorical variable that classifies the focal population as being one of five focal orders of waterbirds (<i>Anseriformes, Ciconiiformes, Gruiformes, Pelecaniformes</i>, or <i>Phoenicopteriformes</i>).Column C "Season" = a categorical variable which describes whether the behavioural observations were carried out in the "breeding" or "non-breeding" season for the focal waterbird species.Column D "Methodology" = a categorical variable which describes whether the observations were made using "scan sampling" or "focal sampling" methodology (see published paper for further details).Column E "Population" = a categorical variable which defined whether the focal individuals were part of a captive (= "Yes") or wild/free-living (= "No") population.Column F "Age.class" = a categorical variable which describes whether the observed focal birds were "Adults" or "Juveniles".Column G "Latitude" = a continuous variable reporting the latitude (in decimal degrees) at which the focal observations were conducted.Column H "One.Leg" = a continuous variable reporting the % of time spent by a focal flamingo on one leg during an observation.Column I "One.Leg.S" = a continuous variable describing the number of seconds that a focal flamingo spent on one leg during an observation period of 600 seconds.Column J "Preen" = a continuous variable reporting the % of time spent by a focal flamingo on preening behaviour during an observation.Column K "Preen.S" = a continuous variable describing the number of seconds that a focal flamingo spent on preening behaviour during an observation period of 600 seconds.Column L "Observed" = a continuous variable that refers to the % of the total observation time during which the flamingo was visible to the observer.Column M "Species" = a categorical variable that describes the species identity of the focal flamingo (<i>Andean, Caribbean, Chilean, Greater</i> or <i>Lesser</i>)Column N "Sex" = a categorical variable that describes whether the focal flamingo observed was "Female" or "Male".Column O "Time" = a categorical variable that reports which time period the focal observations occurred during ("Early" = &lt;11:00, "Mid" = 11:00–12:59), and "Late" = ≥13:00).Column P "Inside" = a binary variable which reflects whether the focal individual was inside (= 1) or outside (= 0) of its housing during the observation.Column Q "Water" =a binary variable that describes whether the focal individual was on water (= 1) or on land (= 0) during the observation.Column R "Temperature" = a continuous variable reporting the air temperature (°C) during the focal observation.Column S "Humidity" = a continuous variable describing the humidity (%) during the focal observation.Column T "Pressure" = a continuous variable which reports the air pressure (mb) during the focal observation.Column U "Wind.Speed" = a continuous variable which refers to the wind speed (km/h) during the focal observation.Column V "Rain" = a binary variable which describes whether rain did (= 1) or did not (= 0) occur during the focal observation.Column W "Cloud" = a continuous variable that reports the % of the sky covered by clouds during the focal observation.<br>File #3) "Meta-analysis screening process.csv" - this csv file contains the details of all papers found and screened as part of our literature search. Columns A to K contain the citation information associated with each paper found in our search. Columns L to N report whether each paper was included ("Y"), excluded ("N"), or could not be accessed ("n/a") as part of our literature screening process. Column O reports whether we extracted data from each study (extracted data is reported in File #4).<br>File #4) "Meta-analysis extracted data.csv" - a csv file which contains the data extracted from each relevant paper identified as part of our literature review and meta-analysis. See the information associated with File #2 for detailed descriptions of the extracted data.<br>