DOI: 10.5061/dryad.sn02v6xg6
title: Data from: Global patterns of colouration complexity in the Paridae: Effects of climate and species characteristics across body regions

description: Avian plumage colouration is an iconic example of trait variability among
 species. Sexual, social, and natural selection, and the environmental
 variables modulating them, may explain this variability. So far, most
 research exploring environmental effects on the variability of plumage
 colouration has focused on the variation in overall plumage darkness.
 Research on other aspects of colour variation, such as the diversity of
 colours exhibited by a species (i.e., colour complexity), is limited and
 has provided inconsistent results. Besides, colour complexity has mostly
 been analysed at the whole plumage level, despite the possibility that
 different plumage patches may be sensitive to different environmental
 factors. Here, we quantify male and female coloration in 58 species of the
 family Paridae, and use multi-predictor Bayesian phylogenetic mixed models
 to estimate the relationship of coloration with environment and certain
 species-specific characteristics. We consider both the colouration of the
 whole body and the coloration of four separate colour patches (head,
 chest, back, and wing). We find that Paridae species in climates
 with greater seasonality and intermediate temperatures present more
 complex colouration than do species in other climates. In addition, males,
 relatively small species, and species with relatively greater sexual
 dichromatism have more complex plumage colouration than otherwise. We find
 that the numbers of predators and sympatric conspecifics are more
 associated with female coloration than with male coloration. Finally, the
 strength of associations with colour complexity are specific to each
 plumage region: species recognition, beak shape, and climate variables
 related to competition for reproductive resources (i.e. seasonality of
 temperature and precipitation), are more strongly associated with
 colouration complexity of the head and breast than with that of the back
 and wing. Overall, our results illustrate the importance of
 climatic and social variables, the link between colour complexity and
 dichromatism in both sexes, and the analysis of distinct plumage areas for
 understanding global patterns of colouration complexity and the processes
 that promote them.
description: # Data for: Global patterns of colouration complexity in the Paridae:
 Effects of climate and species characteristics across body regions
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sn02v6xg6](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sn02v6xg6) ## Description of the data and file structure Dataset required to replicate the analyses from: *Global patterns of colouration complexity in the Paridae: effects of climate and species characteristics across body regions.* The dataset contains information of colour complexity in the paridae family taken using a spectrophotometer and the specimens  available at the Natural History Museum at Tring. Besides, it also contains several climatic and biotic variables specific to each species taken from public sources (UICN, WorldClim, AVONET...).  ### Files and variables #### File: bbdd\_chest.csv **Description:** Data for the specific analysis exploring the variation in **chest** colour complexity  ##### Variables * mat: Mean annual temperature (ºC) * p: Annual precipitation (mm) * pc_varp: Precipitation variability * pc_vart: Temperature variability * pc_size: Body size * pc_beak: Beak size * number_pred: Number of sympatric predators  * number_symp: Number of sympatric confamilials  * habitatb: Habitat breadth  * migrant: Migratory status (Altitudinal migrant vs year round resident) * mean_dS: Sexual dichromatism * sex_2: Sex of the specimen. In P. hypermelanea the sex was randomly assigned as the specimen sex was not described in the museum. * sex_3: Sex of the specimen. In P. hypermelanea the sex was randomly assigned as the specimen sex was not described in the museum. This is an alternative sex assignation in P. hypermelanea * sex_4: Sex of the specimen. In P. hypermelanea the sex was randomly assigned as the specimen sex was not described in the museum. This is an alternative sex assignation in P. hypermelanea * sex_5: Sex of the specimen. In P. hypermelanea the sex was randomly assigned as the specimen sex was not described in the museum. This is an alternative sex assignation in P. hypermelanea * name_tree2: Species id. * logchest_vol: log transformed colour complexity of the chest * phylo: name of the species to connect with the phylogeny. #### File: bbdd\_back.csv **Description:** Data for the specific analysis exploring the variation in **back** colour complexity  ##### Variables * mat: Mean annual temperature (ºC) * p: Annual precipitation (mm) * pc_varp: Precipitation variability * pc_vart: Temperature variability * pc_size: Body size * pc_beak: Beak size * number_pred: Number of sympatric predators  * number_symp: Number of sympatric confamilials  * habitatb: Habitat breadth  * migrant: Migratory status (Altitudinal migrant vs year round resident) * mean_dS: Sexual dichromatism * sex_2: Sex of the specimen. In P. hypermelanea the sex was randomly assigned as the specimen sex was not described in the museum. * sex_3: Sex of the specimen. In P. hypermelanea the sex was randomly assigned as the specimen sex was not described in the museum. This is an alternative sex assignation in P. hypermelanea * sex_4: Sex of the specimen. In P. hypermelanea the sex was randomly assigned as the specimen sex was not described in the museum. This is an alternative sex assignation in P. hypermelanea * sex_5: Sex of the specimen. In P. hypermelanea the sex was randomly assigned as the specimen sex was not described in the museum. This is an alternative sex assignation in P. hypermelanea * name_tree2: Species id. * loghead_vol: log transformed colour complexity of the head * phylo: name of the species to connect with the phylogeny. #### File: bbdd\_whole.csv **Description:** Data for the specific analysis exploring the variation in colour complexity** of the whole body** ##### Variables * mat: Mean annual temperature (ºC) * p: Annual precipitation (mm) * pc_varp: Precipitation variability * pc_vart: Temperature variability * pc_size: Body size * pc_beak: Beak size * number_pred: Number of sympatric predators  * number_symp: Number of sympatric confamilials  * habitatb: Habitat breadth  * migrant: Migratory status (Altitudinal migrant vs year round resident) * mean_dS: Sexual dichromatism * sex_2: Sex of the specimen. In P. hypermelanea the sex was randomly assigned as the specimen sex was not described in the museum. * sex_3: Sex of the specimen. In P. hypermelanea the sex was randomly assigned as the specimen sex was not described in the museum. This is an alternative sex assignation in P. hypermelanea * sex_4: Sex of the specimen. In P. hypermelanea the sex was randomly assigned as the specimen sex was not described in the museum. This is an alternative sex assignation in P. hypermelanea * sex_5: Sex of the specimen. In P. hypermelanea the sex was randomly assigned as the specimen sex was not described in the museum. This is an alternative sex assignation in P. hypermelanea * name_tree2: Species id. * logvol: log transformed colour complexity of the whole body * phylo: name of the species to connect with the phylogeny. #### File: bbdd\_head.csv **Description:** Data for the specific analysis exploring the variation in colour complexity** of the head** ##### Variables * mat: Mean annual temperature (ºC) * p: Annual precipitation (mm) * pc_varp: Precipitation variability * pc_vart: Temperature variability * pc_size: Body size * pc_beak: Beak size * number_pred: Number of sympatric predators  * number_symp: Number of sympatric confamilials  * habitatb: Habitat breadth  * migrant: Migratory status (Altitudinal migrant vs year round resident) * mean_dS: Sexual dichromatism * sex_2: Sex of the specimen. In P. hypermelanea the sex was randomly assigned as the specimen sex was not described in the museum. * sex_3: Sex of the specimen. In P. hypermelanea the sex was randomly assigned as the specimen sex was not described in the museum. This is an alternative sex assignation in P. hypermelanea * sex_4: Sex of the specimen. In P. hypermelanea the sex was randomly assigned as the specimen sex was not described in the museum. This is an alternative sex assignation in P. hypermelanea * sex_5: Sex of the specimen. In P. hypermelanea the sex was randomly assigned as the specimen sex was not described in the museum. This is an alternative sex assignation in P. hypermelanea * name_tree2: Species id. * loghead_vol: log transformed colour complexity of the head * phylo: name of the species to connect with the phylogeny. #### File: bbdd\_wing.csv **Description:** Data for the specific analysis exploring the variation in colour complexity** of the wing** ##### Variables * mat: Mean annual temperature (ºC) * p: Annual precipitation (mm) * pc_varp: Precipitation variability * pc_vart: Temperature variability * pc_size: Body size * pc_beak: Beak size * number_pred: Number of sympatric predators  * number_symp: Number of sympatric confamilials  * habitatb: Habitat breadth  * migrant: Migratory status (Altitudinal migrant vs year round resident) * mean_dS: Sexual dichromatism * sex_2: Sex of the specimen. In P. hypermelanea the sex was randomly assigned as the specimen sex was not described in the museum. * sex_3: Sex of the specimen. In P. hypermelanea the sex was randomly assigned as the specimen sex was not described in the museum. This is an alternative sex assignation in P. hypermelanea * sex_4: Sex of the specimen. In P. hypermelanea the sex was randomly assigned as the specimen sex was not described in the museum. This is an alternative sex assignation in P. hypermelanea * sex_5: Sex of the specimen. In P. hypermelanea the sex was randomly assigned as the specimen sex was not described in the museum. This is an alternative sex assignation in P. hypermelanea * name_tree2: Species id. * logwing_vol: log transformed colour complexity of the wing * phylo: name of the species to connect with the phylogeny. ## Code/software Global_patterns_of_colouration_complexity_in_the_Paridae. Rmd: Code to replicate the analyses in "Global patterns of colouration complexity in the Paridae: effects of climate and species characteristics across body regions"* *to model hypothesized causal relationships affecting bird plumage colour complexity, then fits a series of Bayesian regression models (via brms) to assess the impact of environmental, morphological, and ecological predictors on colour traits, separately for whole body and head regions, while accounting for phylogenetic structure*.*