Growth, movement, and survival of precocial shorebird chicks are constrained by local conditions

Young animals are often less mobile than adults but have high energetic demands. They may therefore be more vulnerable to local-scale changes in environmental conditions. In particular, when one sex must grow more rapidly than the other to achieve a larger adult size, that sex may experience especially dramatic reductions in growth and survival in the face of suboptimal environmental conditions. In order to investigate the flexibility of individuals in response to local-scale environmental variation during development, we studied the sex-specific growth, movement, and survival of Hudsonian Godwit (Limosa haemastica) chicks. This sexually dimorphic, precocial shorebird breeds in the sub-Arctic and exhibits a male-skewed adult sex ratio. We found that female chicks – which must grow to a larger adult size – reached their maximum growth rates at a later age, but had similar growth rates to males before that and survived equally well to 21 days. We also found that, irrespective of sex, chic..., , # Data from: Growth, movement, and survival of precocial shorebird chicks are constrained by local conditions

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.stqjq2cdr](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.stqjq2cdr)

## Description of the data and file structure

Data were collected during the summers of 2009–2011 and 2019–2024 in Beluga, Alaska.

### Files and variables

#### File: chick_morpho.csv

**Description:** Data used in Section 2.3 Growth analysis.

##### Variables

* Band.Number: U.S. Geological Survey metal band number
* Year: Study year
* Code: Unique leg flag code
* Hatching.Date: Date of hatching
* Measurement.Date: Capture date
* Age: Age, starting at 0 on the day of hatching
* Culmen: Exposed culmen length (mm)
* Tarsus: Tarsus length (mm)
* Mass: Body mass (g)
* Sex: Sex, determined by molecular sexing
* NestID: Unique identifier of the nest from which the chick hatched

NA values indicate that no measurements were taken.

#### File: chick_movement.csv

**Description:** Data used in Section ..., ,