Body mass data set for 1,317 bird and 270 mammal species from Colombia.

Body mass is one of the most important phenotypic attributes in animal ecology and life history. This trait is widely used in the fields of ecology and macroevolution, since it influences physiology, morphological functions, and a myriad of ecological and social interactions. In this data set, our aim was to gather a comprehensive bird and mammal body mass data set from northern South America. We report body mass, discriminated by sex, for 42,022 individual birds and 7,441 mammals representing 1,317 bird species (69% of Colombia's avifauna) and 270 mammal species (51% of Colombian mammals) from the Neotropics. The data were sourced from vouchers collected between 1942 and 2020 and from individuals captured and released at banding stations over the last two decades for birds (2000-2020) and the last decade for mammals (2010-2020), by 10 research groups and institutions in Colombia. This data set fills gaps identified in other similar databases, as it focuses on northern South America, a highly diverse Neotropical region often underrepresented in morphological data sets. We provide wide taxonomic coverage for studies interested in information both at regional and local scales. There are no copyright restrictions; the present data paper should be appropriately cited when data are used for publication. The authors would appreciate learning about research projects, teaching exercises, and other uses given to this data set and are open to contribute in further collaborations using these data.

Habitat-dependent occupancy and movement in a migrant songbird highlights the importance of mangroves and forested lagoons in Panama and Colombia.

Climate change is predicted to impact tropical mangrove forests due to decreased rainfall, sea-level rise, and increased seasonality of flooding. Such changes are likely to influence habitat quality for migratory songbirds occupying mangrove wetlands during the tropical dry season. Overwintering habitat quality is known to be associated with fitness in migratory songbirds, yet studies have focused primarily on territorial species. Little is known about the ecology of nonterritorial species that may display more complex movement patterns within and among habitats of differing quality. In this study, we assess within-season survival and movement at two spatio-temporal scales of a nonterritorial overwintering bird, the prothonotary warbler (Protonotaria citrea), that depends on mangroves and tropical lowland forests. Specifically, we (a) estimated within-patch survival and persistence over a six-week period using radio-tagged birds in central Panama and (b) modeled abundance and occupancy dynamics at survey points throughout eastern Panama and northern Colombia as the dry season progressed. We found that site persistence was highest in mangroves; however, the probability of survival did not differ among habitats. The probability of warbler occupancy increased with canopy cover, and wet habitats were least likely to experience local extinction as the dry season progressed. We also found that warbler abundance is highest in forests with the tallest canopies. This study is one of the first to demonstrate habitat-dependent occupancy and movement in a nonterritorial overwintering migrant songbird, and our findings highlight the need to conserve intact, mature mangrove, and lowland forests.