Manzoli et al. Plastic host selection and facultative generalism in Philornis parasitic flies
Description
The matrices are the full datasets used to construct the models presented in the work "Specialist by preference, generalist by need: availability of quality hosts drives parasite choice in a natural multihost parasite system" (Int J Parasitol). In that work, the output of model 1 (first dataset) is shown in Table 1 and that of model 2 (second dataset) in Table 2.
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The data were collected from a 40-ha patch of native forest located in the centre of Santa Fe Province, Argentina. We analysed data from 8 breeding seasons. Sampling started in the 2006-7 breeding season, missed 2010-1, and continued through to 2015-6. Twice a week, the entire 40-ha forest patch was thoroughly surveyed searching for active nests (of all bird species). The field procedures were consistently and systematically carried out by five of the authors of this work and three field assistants.Every 3-4 days, the entire 40-ha was explored by four field workers deployed in pairs. The area was divided into four plots which could be monitored using previously designed trajectories that enabled observation of most trees present in each plot. The search involved identifying nests and examining them to assess whether they were active or not. Most nests were detected by observing parental activity, although many were located when parents were not in the surroundings, as nests of the focal bird species are conspicuous. The vast majority of the nests of the focal species began to be monitored before eggs hatched. This was consistently done from end of September to end of March during the 8 breeding seasons. When eggs were identified, the nest was marked and systematically followed until all nestlings fledged or died. The nestlings of each brood of the three focal bird species were examined twice a week (every 3-4 days) in search of external parasites, examining thoroughly all the nestling's body surface as described in detailed by Manzoli et al., (2013). Identical procedures were conducted in broods of the remaining breeding species, but in that case data were collected once a week. Larvae of P. torquans detected were counted and their stage recorded as L1 (first instar; <4mm), L2 (second instar; 4 – 7mm) and L3 (final instar; >7mm). For this study, we only used the data from the period of the breeding season in which all three species of interest are expected to be breeding (weeks 5 to 24 from the September [spring] equinox), and added an extra week after the Great Kiskadee is no longer present.