Whiskered Auklet Asymmetries

Data and R code for a manuscript on the symmetry of ornmental plumes in the Whiskered Auklet (Aethia pygmaea).  In this species males and females display on their faces four elaborate feather ornaments that serve both courtship and mechanosensory functions: three bilateral pairs of white facial plume tracts (superorbital, suborbital, and auricular) and a slender black forehead crest, each comprised of several filoplumes. We studied left-right symmetry in the three antenna-like bilateral white head plumes of 721 wild-caught marked individuals (162 of known sex, 94 of known age that were 1-16 years old) during 1992-2009. We looked for effects of age, sex, body size and condition on ornament asymmetries. We also looked for correlations between population average asymmetries (fluctuating asymmetry) and both ocean climate and measures of survival and productivity in the preceding 2-3 yeasrs.