DOI: 10.5061/dryad.s7h44j15m
title: Drivers of alloparental provisioning of fledglings in a colonially-breeding bird

description: Offspring provisioning represents a major reproductive cost. However,
 evidence suggests that parents sometimes feed unrelated offspring. Several
 hypotheses could explain this puzzling phenomenon. Adults could feed
 unrelated offspring that are (1) of close social associates to facilitate
 these juveniles’ integration into their social network (resulting in
 social inheritance), (2) potential extra-pair offspring, (3) at a similar
 developmental stage as their own, (4) coercing feeding by begging, or (5)
 less-developed and who’s enhanced survival would benefit the adult or its
 own offspring (the group augmentation hypothesis). Colonial breeders are
 ideal for investigating the relative importance of these hypotheses
 because offspring are often kept in crèches where adults can exhibit
 allofeeding. Using automated monitoring of replicated captive zebra finch
 (Taeniopygia guttata) colonies, we found that while parents selectively
 fed their own offspring, they also consistently fed unrelated offspring
 (32.48% of feeding events). Social relationships among adults prior to
 breeding did not predict allofeeding, nor was provisioning directed
 towards unrelated offspring directed to potential genetic offspring.
 Instead, adults preferentially fed less-developed non-offspring, despite
 these not begging more frequently than larger ones did. Our study suggests
 that allofeeding is consistent with group augmentation, which could be
 beneficial through colony maintenance or increased offspring survival.
description: dataChickID_toPublish20200223.csv: dataset containing the
 information about each chick. dataParentsID.csv:
 dataset containing information about adults (parents).
 dataQ.csv: dataset of observed feeding visits/events identified
 in the videos, including information of attendees and the occurrence of
 begging behaviour. Event_All_Count.csv: dataset of
 observed feeding visits where parents fed non-offspring. This dataset was
 created by transforming “dataQ.csv” based on $EventID and the relationship
 of fed chicks (i.e. “unrelated” to the focal adult, $AdultID).
 massChecksChicksCross-foster.csv: dataset for chick ID, body
 mass, and age (i.e. days old).
 2018_AX_prebreedingMtx.RData: data on social interactions in each
 of the aviaries (1 to 4) during the pre-breeding period. These data were
 collected via an automated tracking system, 8-megapixel Camera Module V2
 (RS Components Ltd and Allied Electronics Inc.) controlled by a Raspberry
 Pi3 Model B (Raspberry Pi Foundation), and individuals were identified by
 a backpack containing a 2D-tag (see Alarcón-Nieto et al 2018).
description: Adult_towards_potential EPoffspring.R: Code to report the numbers
 of feeding visits/events where adults feed to potential extra-pair
 offspring. Figure1a_Chick_masses.R: Code for the
 relationship between age of chick and body weight.
 Figure3a_Adult_towards_OwnSocialOffspring.R: Code for testing (1)
 whether parents selectively fed their own social offspring or not and (2)
 whether social offspring begged more towards social parents or
 not. Figure3b_Adult_towards_GeneticOffspring.R: Code
 for testing (1) whether parents selectively fed their own genetic
 offspring or not and (2) whether genetic offspring begged more towards
 genetic parents or not.
 Figure4a_Adult_towards_Under-developedNonOffspring.R: Code for
 testing whether parents selectively fed non-offspring based on their
 developmental stages.
 Figure4b_Adult_towards_BeggingNonOffspring: Code for testing
 whether parents selectively fed begging non-offspring or not.
 SupplInfoSec15_MantelTest_AviaryX.R: Code for testing whether
 adults in each aviary (1 to 4) selectively fed offspring of close social
 associates or not.