Data from: Carry-over effects of the social environment on future divorce probability in a wild bird population

Initial mate choice and re-mating strategies (infidelity and divorce)
influence individual fitness. Both of these should be influenced by the
social environment, which determines the number and availability of
potential partners. While most studies looking at this relationship take a
population-level approach, individual-level responses to variation in the
social environment remain largely unexplored. Here, we explore carry-over
effects on future mating decisions of the social environment in which the
initial mating decision occurred,. Using detailed data on the winter
social networks of great tits we tested whether the probability of
subsequent divorce, a year later, could be predicted by measures of the
social environment at the time of pairing. We found that males that had a
lower proportion of female associates, and whose partner ranked lower
amongst these, as well as inexperienced breeders, were more likely to
divorce after breeding. We found no evidence that a female’s social
environment influenced the probability of divorce. Our findings highlight
the importance of the social environment that individuals experience
during initial pair formation on later pairing outcomes, and demonstrate
that such effects can be delayed. Exploring these extended effects of the
social environment can give valuable insights into processes and selective
pressures acting upon the mating strategies that individuals adopt.