R/dormouse_hibernation.R

In ecoteach: Educational Datasets for Ecology and Agriculture

#' Dormouse Hibernation and Reproduction Dataset
#'
#' This dataset contains hibernation and reproductive data for edible dormice (Glis glis).
#' The data tracks hibernation patterns, body mass changes, and reproductive activity
#' across multiple years and individuals. The study examines how age affects hibernation
#' timing and reproductive behavior in these small hibernating mammals.
#'
#' The research shows that age strongly affects hibernation/activity patterns through two pathways:
#' (1) with increasing age, dormice are more likely to reproduce, which delays hibernation onset, and
#' (2) age directly advances emergence from hibernation in spring. This suggests hibernation
#' is not merely an energy-saving strategy but an age-affected life-history trait used to maximize fitness.
#'
#' @format A data frame with 290 rows and 16 variables:
#' \describe{
#'   \item{animal_id}{Unique identifier for each dormouse}
#'   \item{year_birth}{Year of birth for the animal}
#'   \item{age}{Age of the animal in years}
#'   \item{log_age}{Logarithm of age}
#'   \item{body_mass_before}{Body mass before hibernation (g)}
#'   \item{body_mass_after}{Body mass after hibernation (g)}
#'   \item{hibernation_duration}{Duration of hibernation in days}
#'   \item{hibernation_start}{Date when hibernation started (DD.MM.YY format)}
#'   \item{hibernation_end}{Date when hibernation ended (DD.MM.YY format)}
#'   \item{hibernation_end_year_before}{End date of previous year's hibernation}
#'   \item{body_mass_spring}{Body mass in spring (g)}
#'   \item{year}{Year of observation}
#'   \item{sex}{Sex of the animal (male or female)}
#'   \item{diet}{Diet type (medium, high fat, or protein)}
#'   \item{age_death}{Age at death in years}
#'   \item{repro_active}{Whether the animal was reproductively active (yes or no)}
#' }
#' @source Bieber, Claudia and Turbill, Christopher and Ruf, Thomas (2019). Data from: Effects of aging on timing of hibernation and reproduction. Dryad Digital Repository. 
#'   \doi{10.5061/DRYAD.8004G37}
#' @examples
#' \donttest{
#' # Load the dataset
#' data(dormouse_hibernation)
#' 
#' # Basic exploration
#' head(dormouse_hibernation)
#' summary(dormouse_hibernation)
#' 
#' # Examine hibernation duration by age
#' boxplot(hibernation_duration ~ age, data = dormouse_hibernation, 
#'         main = "Hibernation Duration by Age",
#'         xlab = "Age (years)", ylab = "Duration (days)")
#'         
#' # Compare body mass change during hibernation
#' with(dormouse_hibernation, 
#'      plot(body_mass_before, body_mass_after, 
#'           col = as.integer(sex),
#'           main = "Body Mass Before vs After Hibernation",
#'           xlab = "Body Mass Before (g)", 
#'           ylab = "Body Mass After (g)"))
#' legend("topleft", levels(dormouse_hibernation$sex), 
#'        col = 1:2, pch = 1)
#'        
#' # Examine reproductive activity by age
#' with(subset(dormouse_hibernation, !is.na(repro_active)), 
#'      table(age, repro_active))
#' }
"dormouse_hibernation"