DOI: 10.5061/dryad.gr7p0
title: Data from: Fine-scale genetic structure reflects sex-specific dispersal strategies in a population of sociable weavers (Philetairus socius)

description: Dispersal is a critical driver of gene flow, with important consequences
 for population genetic structure, social interactions and other biological
 processes. Limited dispersal may result in kin-structured populations in
 which kin selection may operate, but it may also increase the risk of kin
 competition and inbreeding. Here, we use a combination of long-term field
 data and molecular genetics to examine dispersal patterns and their
 consequences for the population genetics of a highly social bird, the
 sociable weaver (Philetairus socius), which exhibits cooperation at
 various levels of sociality from nuclear family groups to its unique
 communal nests. Using 20 years of data, involving capture of 6508 birds
 and 3151 recaptures at 48 colonies, we found that both sexes exhibit
 philopatry and that any dispersal occurs over relatively short distances.
 Dispersal is female-biased, with females dispersing earlier, further, and
 to less closely related destination colonies than males. Genotyping data
 from 30 colonies showed that this pattern of dispersal is reflected by
 fine-scale genetic structure for both sexes, revealed by isolation by
 distance in terms of genetic relatedness and significant genetic variance
 among colonies. Both relationships were stronger among males than females.
 Crucially, significant relatedness extended beyond the level of the colony
 for both sexes. Such fine-scale population genetic structure may have
 played an important role in the evolution of cooperative behaviour in this
 species, but it may also result in a significant inbreeding risk, against
 which female-biased dispersal alone is unlikely to be an effective
 strategy.
description: Capture recapture
 dataThis tab-delimited text
 file contains all capture and recapture data from 1993 until 2013. Year-
 year of capture, Date - date of capture, Colony - colony at which the
 individual was captured, Ring - ring number / ID, Age - the coded age at
 which an individual was captured:1-5 is juvenile, 6 is adult. The sex of
 most of the individuals in this data file can be found in the file
 'Genotypes and sex of all individuals and their colony UTM
 coordinates.txt.'Genotypes and sex of all
 individuals and their colony UTM coordinatesThis tab-delimited text
 file contains the genotype of all (1846) individuals genotype at 17
 polymorphic microsatellite loci. The two alleles per locus are combined
 into one column for each locus. The variables before the genotypes are:
 Ring - ring number / ID Sex - the sex of the individual (M = Male, F =
 Female, U = Unknown) S - UTM southing coordinate of the colony at which
 the individual was captured E - UTM easting coordinate of the colony at
 which the individual was captured The UTM coordinates can be used to
 calculate the distance between the colonies using the pythagorean theorem.
 UTM coordinates are measured in meters.Genotypes sex and colony
 coordinates 2010This tab-delimited text
 file contains the same information as the file 'Genotypes and sex of
 all individuals and their colony UTM coordinates.txt', but only for
 individuals captured and genotyped in 2010.