Data for: Similar environmental cues guide timing of breeding and seasonal shifts in songbird social structure

Seasonally breeding animals often exhibit different social structures during non-breeding and breeding periods that coincide with seasonal environmental variation. Therefore, ongoing climate change may play an important role in determining the future structure of animal societies, especially if climate determines when seasonal shifts in social structure occur. However, we know little about the environmental cues that determine the timing of seasonal shifts in social structure, a lack of knowledge that contrasts with our well-defined knowledge of the environmental cues that trigger a shift to breeding physiology in seasonally breeding species. Here we tested whether the environmental cues that drive seasonal shifts in social structure are similar to those that determine timing of breeding in the red-backed fairywren (Malurus melanocephalus), an Australian songbird. Social network analyses revealed that social groups, which are highly territorial during the breeding season, interact in so..., , See README file for descriptions of each dataset and summaries of each R script. See annotated R code for instructions on how to run the analyses. All analyses were conducted in R version 3.5.2 unless otherwise specified.Â