barnswallow_brightness {ecoteach} | R Documentation |
Barn Swallow Plumage Brightness and Mate Selection
Description
This dataset contains information on plumage brightness measurements for North American barn swallows (Hirundo rustica erythrogaster) and their mating patterns. The data includes measurements of belly and breast brightness for social pairs and extra-pair mates. This dataset was used to study assortative mating patterns in barn swallows, investigating how plumage coloration affects mate selection both within social pairs and through extra-pair fertilizations.
Usage
barnswallow_brightness
Format
A data frame with 19 rows and 7 variables:
- MaleID
Band ID for the focal male
- PairID
Band ID for the female social mate
- EPID
Band ID for the extra-pair mate
- PairB_bright
Belly brightness for the social male (unitless measurement of reflectance)
- PairR_bright
Breast brightness for the social male (unitless measurement of reflectance)
- EPB_bright
Belly brightness for the extra-pair male (unitless measurement of reflectance)
- EPR_bright
Breast brightness for the extra-pair male (unitless measurement of reflectance)
Source
Morosse, Omar, Tsunekage, Toshi, Kenny-Duddela, Heather, Schield, Drew, Keller, Kayleigh, Safran, Rebecca, & Levin, Iris (2025). North American barn swallows pair, mate, and interact assortatively. Dryad Digital Repository. doi:10.5061/DRYAD.1G1JWSV8G
Examples
# Load the dataset
data(barnswallow_brightness)
# Basic exploration
head(barnswallow_brightness)
summary(barnswallow_brightness)
# Compare brightness between social and extra-pair males
boxplot(barnswallow_brightness$PairB_bright, barnswallow_brightness$EPB_bright,
names = c("Social Male", "Extra-pair Male"),
main = "Comparison of Belly Brightness",
ylab = "Brightness")
# Correlation between social and extra-pair male brightness
plot(barnswallow_brightness$PairB_bright, barnswallow_brightness$EPB_bright,
main = "Correlation between Social and Extra-pair Male Brightness",
xlab = "Social Male Belly Brightness",
ylab = "Extra-pair Male Belly Brightness")
abline(lm(EPB_bright ~ PairB_bright, data = barnswallow_brightness), col = "red")