Identifying drivers of Florida Scrub-Jay reproductive success in the absence of helpers, 1989-2021

Florida Scrub-Jays (FSJ) are federally Threatened, cooperatively breeding birds, where about half of breeding pairs typically have helpers. Factors affecting reproductive success of this species in the absence of helpers has received little attention. This dataset contains reproductive and environmental data relevant to a subset of known age breeding pairs that did not have helpers at Archbold Biological Station (ABS) from 1989 to 2021. Generalized linear mixed models were used to explain variation in reproductive output (offspring survived to 75 days) in relation to: male and female breeding experience and environmental variables (acorn abundance, fire history, and territory size), with year and territory ID included as random effects. Reproductive output was associated with female breeding experience and all three environmental variables. The findings highlight the importance of fire-maintained oak scrub in FSJ reproductive success, which is consistent with management recommendations for this species.