DOI: 10.5061/dryad.3xsj3txqp
title: Data from: Persistent species relationships characterize migrating bird communities across stopover sites and seasons

description: Global migrations of diverse animal species often converge along the same
 routes, bringing together seasonal assemblages of animals that may
 compete, prey on each other, and share information or pathogens. These
 interspecific interactions, when energetic demands are high and time to
 complete journeys is short, may influence survival, migratory success,
 stopover ecology, and migratory routes. Numerous accounts suggest
 interspecific co-migrations are globally distributed in aerial, aquatic,
 and terrestrial systems, although the study of migration to date has
 rarely investigated species interactions among migrating animals. Here we
 test the hypothesis that migrating animals are communities engaged in
 networks of ecological interactions. We leverage over half a million
 records of 50 bird species from five bird banding sites collected over
 8-23 years to test for species associations using social network analyses.
 We find strong support for persistent species relationships across sites
 and between spring and fall migration. These relationships may be
 ecologically meaningful: they are often stronger among phylogenetically
 related species with similar foraging behaviors and non-breeding ranges
 even after accounting for the non-social contributions to associations,
 including overlap in migration timing and habitat use. While interspecific
 interactions could result in costly competition or beneficial information
 exchange, we find relationships are largely positive, suggesting limited
 competitive exclusion at the scale of a banding station during migratory
 stopovers. Our findings support an understanding of animal migrations that
 consist of networked communities rather than random assemblages of
 independently migrating species, encouraging future studies of the nature
 and consequences of co-migrant interactions.
description: # Persistent species relationships characterize migrating bird communities
 across stopover sites and seasons
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.3xsj3txqp](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.3xsj3txqp) This dataset includes matrices of pairwise species associations and affiliation indices during spring and fall migration at five different bird banding sites. ## Description of the data and file structure The names of the csv files indicate the site (BBBO = Braddock Bay Bird Observatory, BULA = Burke Lake Banding Station, BWATER = Breakwater, CUT = Old Cut, PARC = Powdermill Avian Research Center), the migratory season (spring or fall), and whether the matrix consists of species associations ("adj") or affiliation indices ("GAI"). The affiliation indices are center-scaled to have a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1, so their file name includes "centered." See the manuscript for more details, but essentially, the species associations represent the probability that individuals of two different species are captured in the same mist net during the same 20-45 min interval. The species affiliation indices represent the relative strength of the species association after accounting for similarities in migrating timing, stopover habitat use, and species abundance, and thus are more likely reflective of social relationships. Each csv file is structured as a matrix. The column and row IDs are the four-letter alpha codes for North American birds. (See below for the common names associated with each of these codes.) The species included in each matrix differ across sites and seasons. Because we did not calculate or analyze intra-specific relationships, the diagonals of all matrices are "NA." The common names of the bird species are as follows: ACFL: Acadian flycatcher AMRE: American redstart AMWO: American woodcock ATSP: American tree sparrow BAOR: Baltimore oriole BAWW: Black-and-white warbler BBWA: Bay-breasted warbler BGGN: Blue-gray gnatcatcher BHVI: Blue-headed vireo BLBW: Blackburnian warbler BLPW: Blackpoll warbler BRCR: Brown creeper BRTH: Brown thrasher BTBW: Black-throated blue warbler BTNW: Black-throated green warbler BWWA: Blue-winged warbler CAWA: Canada warbler CHSP: Chipping sparrow CMWA: Cape May warbler CONW: Connecticut warbler COYE: Common yellowthroat CSWA: Chestnut-sided warbler DEJU: Dark-eyed junco EAPH: Eastern phoebe EATO: Eastern towhee EAWP: Eastern wood-pewee FISP: Field sparrow FOSP: Fox sparrow GCFL: Great crested flycatcher GCKI: Golden-crowned kinglet GCTH: Gray-cheeked thrush GRCA: Gray catbird HETH: Hermit thrush HOWA: Hooded warbler HOWR: House wren INBU: Indigo bunting KEWA: Kentucky warbler LEFL: Least flycatcher MAWA: Magnolia warbler MOWA: Mourning warbler MYWA: Myrtle warbler NAWA: Nashville warbler NOPA: Northern parula NOWA: Northern waterthrush OCWA: Orange-crowned warbler OVEN: Ovenbird PISI: Pine siskin PHVI: Philadelphia vireo PUFI: Purple finch RBGR: Rose-breasted grosbeak RBNU: Red-breasted nuthatch RCKI: Ruby-crowned kinglet REVI: Red-eyed vireo RWBL: Red-winged blackbird RUBL: Rusty blackbird SCTA: Scarlet tanager SWSP: Swamp sparrow SWTH: Swainson's thrush TEWA: Tennessee warbler TRES: Tree swallow TRFL: Traill's flycatcher VEER: Veery WAVI: Warbling vireo WCSP: White-crowned sparrow WIWA: Wilson's warbler WIWR: Winter wren WOTH: Wood thrush WPWA: Western palm warbler WTSP: White-throated sparrow YBFL: Yellow-bellied flycatcher YEWA: Yellow warbler