Behavioural analysis of flamingos and other waterbirds

This repository contains the four files associated with our forthcoming study, "What influences feather care and unipedal resting in flamingos? Adding evidence to clarify behavioural anecdotes", published in Applied Animal Behaviour Science.
File #1) "Flamingo Behaviour Analyses.R" - this R script contains all of the analytical code used in the statistical tests reported in our study.
File #2) "FlamingoData.csv" - this csv file contains all of the data used in the analyses reported in our study. It is required to run the code in the previous R script file. Columns A to F pertain to the meta-analysis of waterbird preening behaviour, whilst columns G to W pertain to the two analyses of WWT Slimbridge flamingo data (time spent on one leg and time spent preening). The data contained within the columns are as follows:Column A "MetaPreen" = a continuous variable that represents the % of observed time spent by a focal waterbird population on preening behaviour, extracted from a published study (see File #4).Column B "Order" = a categorical variable that classifies the focal population as being one of five focal orders of waterbirds (Anseriformes, Ciconiiformes, Gruiformes, Pelecaniformes, or Phoenicopteriformes).Column C "Season" = a categorical variable which describes whether the behavioural observations were carried out in the "breeding" or "non-breeding" season for the focal waterbird species.Column D "Methodology" = a categorical variable which describes whether the observations were made using "scan sampling" or "focal sampling" methodology (see published paper for further details).Column E "Population" = a categorical variable which defined whether the focal individuals were part of a captive (= "Yes") or wild/free-living (= "No") population.Column F "Age.class" = a categorical variable which describes whether the observed focal birds were "Adults" or "Juveniles".Column G "Latitude" = a continuous variable reporting the latitude (in decimal degrees) at which the focal observations were conducted.Column H "One.Leg" = a continuous variable reporting the % of time spent by a focal flamingo on one leg during an observation.Column I "One.Leg.S" = a continuous variable describing the number of seconds that a focal flamingo spent on one leg during an observation period of 600 seconds.Column J "Preen" = a continuous variable reporting the % of time spent by a focal flamingo on preening behaviour during an observation.Column K "Preen.S" = a continuous variable describing the number of seconds that a focal flamingo spent on preening behaviour during an observation period of 600 seconds.Column L "Observed" = a continuous variable that refers to the % of the total observation time during which the flamingo was visible to the observer.Column M "Species" = a categorical variable that describes the species identity of the focal flamingo (Andean, Caribbean, Chilean, Greater or Lesser)Column N "Sex" = a categorical variable that describes whether the focal flamingo observed was "Female" or "Male".Column O "Time" = a categorical variable that reports which time period the focal observations occurred during ("Early" = <11:00, "Mid" = 11:00–12:59), and "Late" = ≥13:00).Column P "Inside" = a binary variable which reflects whether the focal individual was inside (= 1) or outside (= 0) of its housing during the observation.Column Q "Water" =a binary variable that describes whether the focal individual was on water (= 1) or on land (= 0) during the observation.Column R "Temperature" = a continuous variable reporting the air temperature (°C) during the focal observation.Column S "Humidity" = a continuous variable describing the humidity (%) during the focal observation.Column T "Pressure" = a continuous variable which reports the air pressure (mb) during the focal observation.Column U "Wind.Speed" = a continuous variable which refers to the wind speed (km/h) during the focal observation.Column V "Rain" = a binary variable which describes whether rain did (= 1) or did not (= 0) occur during the focal observation.Column W "Cloud" = a continuous variable that reports the % of the sky covered by clouds during the focal observation.
File #3) "Meta-analysis screening process.csv" - this csv file contains the details of all papers found and screened as part of our literature search. Columns A to K contain the citation information associated with each paper found in our search. Columns L to N report whether each paper was included ("Y"), excluded ("N"), or could not be accessed ("n/a") as part of our literature screening process. Column O reports whether we extracted data from each study (extracted data is reported in File #4).

File #4) "Meta-analysis extracted data.csv" - a csv file which contains the data extracted from each relevant paper identified as part of our literature review and meta-analysis. See the information associated with File #2 for detailed descriptions of the extracted data.