Relative breeding timing and reproductive success of a resident montane bird species

Wild populations appear to synchronize their reproductive phenology based on numerous environmental and ecological factors, yet there is still individual variation in the timing of reproduction within populations and such variation may be associated with fitness consequences. For example, many studies have documented a seasonal decline in reproductive fitness, but breeding timing may have varying consequences across different environments. Using 11 years of data, we investigated the relationship between relative breeding timing and reproductive success in resident mountain chickadees (Poecile gambeli) across two elevational bands in the Sierra Nevada mountains, USA. Chickadees that synchronized breeding with the majority of the population (“peak” of breeding) did not have the highest breeding success; instead, birds that bred early performed best at high elevation, while at low elevation early and peak nests performed similarly. At both elevations, late nests consistently performed the ..., , , # Relative breeding timing and reproductive success of a resident montane bird species

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.bvq83bkh2](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.bvq83bkh2)

Authors: Lauren E. Whitenack, Carrie L. Branch, Benjamin R. Sonnenberg, Angela M. Pitera, Joseph F. Welklin, Virginia K. Heinen, Lauren M. Benedict, Vladimir V. Pravosudov

Contact Lauren Whitenack at [[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail]) with questions

## Summary of data and code

This paper investigated the relationships between relative breeding timing and breeding success of mountain chickadees. The script includes code for all analyses and figures. The data used include reproductive data from high and low elevation sites and ages of individually-marked birds.

Please note that some cells in data files are blank. These cells have missing values - the data were not collected in these cases. Thus, blank values are equivalent to \"NA\".

## Data file: mochlow\.csv

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Summary: 11 years of br...