DOI: 10.5061/dryad.31zcrjf1w
title: Temperature and rainfall shape the breeding ecology of Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica in an arid region

description: Local weather conditions play a critical role in shaping avian
 reproduction, yet our understanding of these patterns in arid
 environments, where climate change is expected to increase drought
 frequency, is limited. This study investigated the effects of temperature,
 rainfall, and wind speed on the breeding ecology of Barn Swallows (Hirundo
 rustica) in an arid region of Algeria during 2023 and 2024. Using
 generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs), we assessed these effects for
 several life-history traits and breeding parameters including clutch size,
 incubation duration, hatching success, nestling period duration, and
 reproductive success. Our results indicate that clutch size decreased
 seasonally, while incubation duration increased with rainfall and was
 shorter for second clutches. Hatching success correlated positively with
 the amount of precipitation and was higher in second clutches. Nestling
 period duration increased both seasonally and with prolonged incubation.
 Reproductive success benefited from greater rainfall but declined as the
 season progressed and when incubation was extended. Additionally, higher
 temperatures reduced renesting probability, suggesting that heat may limit
 Barn Swallows’ reproductive efforts. Our results highlight the importance
 of rainfall in shaping reproductive success and reveal the negative impact
 of high temperatures on the breeding performance of Barn Swallows in this
 region. In a context of climate change and increasing drought frequency,
 these findings underscore the challenges that Barn Swallow populations
 might face in arid environments in the near future.
description: # Temperature and rainfall shape the breeding ecology of Barn Swallows
 Hirundo rustica in an arid region Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.31zcrjf1w](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.31zcrjf1w) ##
 Description of the data and file structure This dataset contains breeding
 data for the Barn Swallow (*Hirundo rustica*) collected from three
 administrative communes (M’sila, Ouled Madi, and Sidi Aissa) in Algeria
 during the 2023 and 2024 breeding seasons. It includes detailed records on
 nesting phenology, environmental conditions, and reproductive outcomes
 across both rural and urban habitats. Nests were located through
 systematic searches across villages and farmland before the beginning of
 the breeding period. Daily weather data (minimum, maximum and mean
 temperature, precipitation, and wind speed) were obtained from the nearest
 weather station to the study area, M’sila station (station number 604670),
 via the website TuTiempo.net
 ([https://fr.tutiempo.net/m-sila.html](https://fr.tutiempo.net/m-sila.html)). ### Files and variables #### File: DataBSAlgeria.csv **Description:** Main and only dataset containing all the study variables employed in our research. ##### Variables | Column Name | Description | Unit/Format | | :------------------- | :----------------------------------------------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | ID | Unique identifier for each nest record | Integer | | LayingDate | Date when the first egg was laid | dd/mm/yyyy | | NDaysApril | Number of days after April 1st when laying occurred | Days | | HatchingDate | Date when first egg hatched | dd/mm/yyyy (blank if not hatched) | | FledglingDate | Date when fledglings left the nest | dd/mm/yyyy (blank if not fledged) | | TMinL, TMaxL, TMeanL | Min, max, and mean temperatures during laying period | °C | | PrecL | Precipitation during laying period | mm | | WindL | Wind speed during laying period | km/h | | DurationL | Duration of laying period | Days | | TMinI, TMaxI, TMeanI | Min, max, and mean temperatures during incubation | °C (blank if abandoned before hatching) | | PrecI | Precipitation during incubation | mm (blank if abandoned before hatching) | | WindI | Wind speed during incubation | km/h (blank if abandoned before hatching) | | DurationI | Duration of incubation period | Days (blank if abandoned before hatching) | | TMinN, TMaxN, TMeanN | Min, max, and mean temperatures during nestling period | °C (blanks are due to lack of precise data for these days or if the nests were abandoned) | | PrecN | Precipitation during nestling period | mm (blanks are due to lack of precise data for these days or if the nests were abandoned) | | WindN | Wind speed during nestling period | km/h (blanks are due to lack of precise data for these days or if the nests were abandoned) | | DurationN | Duration of nestling period | Days (blanks are due to lack of precise data for these days or if the nests were abandoned) | | TMinT, TMaxT, TMeanT | Min, max, and mean temperatures during total breeding period | °C (blank if the nests were abandoned at any stage) | | PrecT | Precipitation during total breeding period | mm (blank if the nests were abandoned at any stage) | | WindT | Wind speed during total breeding period | km/h (blank if the nests were abandoned at any stage) | | DurationT | Total breeding duration (incubation + nestling) | Days (blank if the nests were abandoned at any stage) | | Site | Study site location | Ouled Madi, M'sila, Sidi Aissa | | Habitat type | Habitat classification | Rural, Urban | | Year | Year of data collection | 2023, 2024 | | IncDur | Incubation duration | Days (blank if abandoned before hatching) | | NestDur | Nestling duration (from hatching to fledging) | Days (blank if abandoned during nesting stage) | | ClutchSize | Total number of eggs laid | Count | | Nhatchlings | Number of eggs that hatched | Count | | Nfledglings | Number of fledglings produced | Count | | Brood | Brood identifier (first or second brood of the season) | 1 = First brood, 2 = Second brood | | renesting | Indicates whether the nest was a renesting attempt | 1 = Yes, 0 = No, blank = unknown (blank if these were second broods) | ## Code/software All analyses were conducted in R v4.4.2 (R Core Team 2024). Data manipulation was performed with dplyr (Wickham et al., 2023). Generalized linear mixed models were fitted using glmmTMB (Brooks et al., 2017), and model diagnostics were implemented with DHARMa (Hartig, 2023) and performance (Lüdecke et al., 2023). Brooks, M.E., Kristensen, K., van Benthem, K.J., Magnusson, A., Berg, C.W., Nielsen, A., et al., 2017. glmmTMB balances speed and flexibility among packages for zero-inflated generalized linear mixed modeling. R package version 1.1.7. [https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=glmmTMB](https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=glmmTMB) Hartig, F., 2023. DHARMa: Residual Diagnostics for Hierarchical (Multi-Level / Mixed) Regression Models. R package version 0.4.6. [https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=DHARMa](https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=DHARMa) Lüdecke, D., Ben-Shachar, M., Patil, I., Waggoner, P., Makowski, D., 2023. performance: An R package for assessment, comparison and testing of statistical models. Journal of Open-Source Software 8(82), 7120. [https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.07120](https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.07120) Wickham, H., Chang, W., Henry, L., 2023. dplyr: A Grammar of Data Manipulation. R package version 1.1.0.[https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=dplyr](https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=dplyr) ## Access information Other publicly accessible locations of the data: * N/A Data was derived from the following sources: * N/A