DOI: 10.5061/dryad.d51c5b073
title: Data from: Factors affecting the nesting success of Swainson's thrush (Catharus ustulatus) along an elevational gradient

description: Montane birds face several ecological challenges during the breeding
 season, including nest predators, competition for territory, and food
 availability. The continuing effects of climate change are causing shifts
 in these plant and animal communities, as well as changes in abiotic
 factors such as increased temperature and precipitation effects, adding
 additional stressors that could affect nest survival, putting their
 populations at risk. The Swainson’s thrush (Catharus ustulatus) is
 migratory songbird which is moderately common and breeds along a wide
 elevation gradient within this system (200-1,250m). Populations of
 Swainson’s thrush were once declining, though recent research shows their
 ranges to be shifting downwards, potentially as the result of increased
 precipitation and temperature at higher elevations. Although lower
 elevations might be more favorable in terms of climactic conditions, nest
 predation is higher at lower elevations in other systems. Thus, this
 species might be faced with the opposing pressures of adverse climactic
 conditions at higher elevations and increased predation at lower
 elevations. Nest survival is a fundamental process to population size, and
 therefore, is important in evaluating how montane breeding birds are
 adjusting to the changing climate. We monitored nests of Swainson’s thrush
 along an elevation gradient in the White Mountain National Forest in New
 Hampshire in 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2021 at two sites: Mt. Jefferson
 (500-1,250m) and Bartlett Experimental Forest (200-300m). We found a
 significant negative effect of rain intensity (millimeters per hour per
 day) as well as a negative interaction effect of elevation with minimum
 daily temperature and average daily temperature, on the daily survival
 rate of Swainson’s thrush. Our results provide evidence that nesting
 survival of montane breeding birds could be at risk as heavier
 precipitation events become more frequent and intense, a likely outcome
 due to the changing climate within the White Mountains and other montane
 ecosystems, putting other passerine species at risk in this
 system. 
description: R studio is needed to open the file(s), but RMark is needed to
 run the code.
description: # Nest Survival dataset for Swainson's thrush (*Catharus ustulatus*)
 along an elevation gradient in New Hampshire *** Data contains appropriate
 contexts used for rMark daily nest survival analysis. There are several
 data files within this dryad: an excel file (NestData\_21.xlsx) that is
 the nest data for all years collected (2016-2019, and 2021). We also have
 a separate nest survival data set that includes nests from years we
 collected weather variables (2019 and 2021; Nestinit1921.numbers). There
 are also two .csv files included: one has all weather data
 (weatherdata3.csv) and the other is the predicted data used to create the
 figure necessary to describe the interaction effect (realtemp.csv).
 Lastly, there's a rmarkdown file labeled
 (NestSurvivalAnalysis\_Deckel.Rmd) which outlines the code used to run the
 analyses. Finally, we've included a few potentially helpful
 supplementary documents (Supplementary\_Material\_SWTHmanuscript.docx) ##
 Description of the Data and file structure Nest survival data for all
 years (NestData\_21.xlsx) and just for 2019 and 2021 (Nestinit1921.csv) is
 organized to include all information needed to determine daily probability
 survival, including site (JEFF = Mt. Jefferson, BEF = Bartlett
 Experimental Forest), FirstFound (date the nest was first found),
 LastPresent (last known date the nest was active), LastChecked (last date
 the nest was checked), Fate (0 or 1; successful/failed nest), elev\_bin
 (grouped data to include the year and elevation bin) Year (the year the
 nest was monitored), elevation (in meters), AgeFound (the age, in days,
 the nest was found), NestAge (approximately how old the nest was when we
 found it), and init\_jul (nest initiation in julian date). Temperature and
 precipitation data (weatherdata.csv) have columns that include date, group
 (year and elevation bin, i.e., BEF2019 = Bartlett experimental forest in
 2019), bin (i.e., "BEF" = Bartlett experimental forest), precip
 (i.e., daily precipitation in mm), elevation (in meters), year, julian
 date, time (a covariate used by rMark to match weather data with daily
 survival), mean daily temperature, minimum daily temperature, and
 temperature range (all in celcius), and m\_per\_hour (mm of rain per hour,
 i.e., daily rain intensity). Predicted temperature variables for the
 interaction effect model are in the (realtemp.csv) file. This includes the
 elevation when held constant (in meters), the minimum daily temperature
 variable (0-26 degrees celsius), the daily survival rate estimate (i.e.
 real), and the standard error (se) and upper and lower confidence
 intervals for these (lcl and ucl). We've included an rmarkdown of the
 code we ran to complete the analyses (NestSurvivalAnalysis\_Deckel.Rmd).
 All files included here should be what users need if they want to
 replicate the code. Users will need to have R studio and rMark install in
 order to run code. Required information needed for rMark nest survival can
 be found in Appendix C in the nest survival guide here:
 http://www.phidot.org/software/mark/docs/book/pdf/chap17.pdf