Explaining the divergence of population trajectories for two interacting waterfowl species

Identifying the specific environmental features and associated density-dependent processes that limit population growth is central to both ecology and conservation. Comparative assessments of sympatric species allow for inference into how ecologically similar species differentially respond to their shared environment, which can be used to inform community-level conservation strategies. Comparative assessments can nevertheless be complicated by interactions and feedback loops among the species in question. We developed an integrated population model based on sixty-one years of ecological data describing the demographic histories of Canvasbacks (Aythya valisineria) and Redheads (Aythya americana), two species of migratory diving ducks that utilize similar breeding habitats and affect each other’s demography through interspecific nest parasitism. We combined this model with a transient life table response experiment to determine the extent that demographic rates, and their contributions to..., DATA COLLECTION
We combined a series of long-term data sets into a single integrated population model that provided insights into how variation in seasonal survival (band releases and recoveries) and offspring production (harvest age-ratios) contributed to fluctuations in population growth (breeding survey, harvest estimates) for Canvasbacks and Redheads from 1961–2021.
Banding Data – Information regarding the banding and subsequent harvest of ducks was acquired from the GameBirds Database CD (Bird Banding Lab, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel MD, USA, version August 2022). Male and female Canvasbacks and Redheads were captured following breeding but prior to the hunting season (Pre-Hunting) as ducklings (Local) or hatch year (HY; fledged juvenile) individuals as well as after hatch year (AHY; adult) individuals or following the hunting season (Post-Hunting) as an undifferentiated mixture of second year (SY) and after second year (ASY) individuals captured and released acr..., , # Manuscript Details:

## Journal Name: Ecological Monographs (submitted)

### Title: Explaining the divergence of population trajectories for two interacting waterfowl species.

Author(s):

Gibson, D.(1,2a), T.W. Arnold (2), F.E. Buderman (3) D.N. Koons (1),

1 Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55455

2 Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802

3 Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology & Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523 USA

a Corresponding Author: [[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail])

# Decomposing the drivers of Canvasback and Redhead population change: Code and data to develop explantory variables, build a population model, and perform a transient life table response experiment

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We have provided the raw agricultural (**crop.rdata**), wetland abundance (**ponds.rdata*...