Data from: Experiencing El Niño conditions during early life reduces recruiting probabilities but not adult survival

In wild long-lived animals, analysis of impacts of stressful natal
conditions on adult performance has rarely embraced the entire age-span,
and the possibility that costs are expressed late in life has seldom been
examined. Using 26 years of data from 8,541 fledglings and 1,310 adults of
the blue-footed booby (Sula nebouxii), a marine bird that can live up to
23 years, we tested whether experiencing the warm waters and food scarcity
associated with El Niño in the natal year reduces recruitment or survival
over the adult lifetime. Warm water in the natal year reduced the
probability of recruiting; each additional degree (°C) of water
temperature meant a reduction of roughly 50% in fledglings’ probability of
returning to the natal colony as breeders. Warm water in the current year
impacted adult survival, with greater effect at the oldest ages than
during early adulthood. However, warm water in the natal year did not
affect survival at any age over the adult lifespan. A previous study
showed that early recruitment and widely spaced breeding allow boobies
that experience warm waters in the natal year to achieve normal fledgling
production over the first 10 years; our results now show that this
reproductive effort incurs no survival penalty, not even late in life.
This pattern is additional evidence of buffering against stressful natal
conditions via life-history adjustments.