Environmental fluctuations alter the competitive trade-offs of group size in a social primate

This data set includes the demographic (group size, focal age, and sex) and behavioral data (fruit ingestion rates)  from the Lomas Barbudal Monkey Project data set that are used in the paper 'Environmental fluctuations alter the competitive trade-offs of group size in a social primate' by Jacobson et al. These data are used to consider the impact of group size on ranging patterns in a longitudinal perspective. As group size increases, within-group feeding competition is expected to increase as well; however, the costs of within-group feeding competition can be mitigated by the advantages of large group size in between-group competition. Home range size and quality are expected to change as a function of feeding strategies; this will be affected not only by the group's own size, but by the size of neighboring groups. This paper uses a \"social relations model\" approach to investigating interactions between neighboring groups and the ways in which their fruit ingestion rates and rang..., These data come from a wild population of monkeys (Cebus imitator, formerly known as Cebus capucinus), residing in Lomas Barbudal Biological Reserve in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, and adjacent private lands (e.g., Hacienda Pelon de la Bajura, Brin d'Amor, and the community of San Ramon de Bagaces). This population has been intensively studied by Susan Perry, with help from her research assistants and students, since 1990. The monkeys are habituated to observer presence.  They are not tagged by researchers, but are recognizable via natural markings (e.g., scars, freckles, variation in the patterning of hair color, and shape of the face). Further data on the history of the project and its core protocols can be found here: Perry, S., Godoy, I. & Lammers, W. 2012. The Lomas Barbudal Monkey Project: Two decades of research on Cebus capucinus. In: Long-term Field Studies of Primates. (Eds. P. Kappeler & D. Watts), Springer, pp. 141-165.
Every day in which a monkey group is encountere..., # Data from: Environmental fluctuations alter the competitive trade-offs of group size in a social primate

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.612jm64j0](10.5061/dryad.612jm64j0)

## Description of the data and file structure

These data were collected as part of a longitudinal observational study. See the methods section for details. The data used here are demographic (noting which monkeys were residing in which social group on each day) and behavioral (noting the number of bites of fruit that each monkey ingested on particular days).

### Files and variables

#### File: daily_fruit_ingests_per_focal.csv

**Description:** 

##### Variables

* focal: identity of the individual monkey being followed via continuous focal animal sampling
* date: the day the focal monkey was followed
* sex: the sex of the focal monkey. (m=male,f=female, u=unknown sex)
* age_yrs: the age of the focal animal (in years) on that date
* seconds_ivp: the number of seconds during which the focal animal's mouth and hands ..., ,