Mate desertion affects offspring survival, development and physiology in a songbird with multiple parental strategies

Sexual conflict affects the amount and duration of offspring care each parent invests, resulting in multiple parental care strategies sometimes coexisting within a single population. Understanding the persistence of multiple parental care strategies requires a precise estimate of the benefits and costs associated with parental decisions. Even though the benefits of brood desertion are well known, the reproductive costs of desertion (i.e., nestlings’ physiological conditions and survival) are less explored. We use rock sparrows, Petronia petronia, a species in which both uniparental and biparental care occur in the same population, to investigate the costs of brood desertion. Specifically, we continuously monitored breeding attempts to explore the behavioral mechanisms (desertion decision and compensatory responses) and the reproductive and physiological consequences (offspring corticosterone concentrations, oxidative stress, telomere attrition; mechanistic) of parental care strategies. ..., Experimental Design:
We conducted our study from May to July 2021 and 2022 on a wild rock sparrow population breeding in nest boxes on the grassland slopes of Valsaín (Segovia, central Spain, 40°53′74″N, 4°01′W, 1200 m above sea level). This population has been monitored since 2013 (Cantarero et al. 2019; Corregidor-Castro et al. 2022). We routinely checked nest boxes for clutch initiation and determined the onset of egg laying, incubation, and hatching. After hatching (day 1), we recorded videos of all nests to quantify provisioning and desertion behavior on days 3, 6, 8, 11, and 14, for 1.5 hours each (Figure S1). Digital video cameras (Sony Handcam CX405) were placed approximately 20 m away from the nest boxes such that they would capture a ~ 2 m radius surrounding the nest box. To minimize observer bias, blinded methods were used when all behavioral data were recorded and analyzed. During each filming session, we recorded hourly provisioning rates (visits to the nest per hour) by th..., , # Mate desertion affects offspring survival, development and physiology in a songbird with multiple parental strategies

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.3n5tb2rtq](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.3n5tb2rtq)

## Description of the data and file structure

Nest and offspring level data measured from wild Rock Sparrow (*Petronia petronia*) population breeding in nest boxes on the grassland slopes of Valsaín (Segovia, central Spain). Parental care decisions (if and when desertion occurs), offspring growth and physiology, and offspring survival were recorded from hatching to fledging. All NA values represent data that are not available.

### Files and variables

#### File: alldata.csv

**Description:** 

##### Variables

* nest_year: combined nest identifier and year of observation so that nest boxes used in multiple years by different pairs will be distinct
* chickID: individual offspring identifier
* age: age of offspring (days post-hatch)
* cort: corticosterone levels measured in blood plas...,