King Rail and Common Moorhen egg pattern matching data

Abstract

This dataset is a combination of egg images and processed output on pattern matching of eggshell surfaces from the images using NaturePatternMatch (NPM), additional data extracted from NPM, and field data. The data are separated into four folders based on species and analyses performed. There are two folders of scaled single egg images, one for King Rails, Rallus elegans, and one for Common Moorhens, Gallinula chloropus chloropus. Each photograph is identified by year, clutch and egg identity. Most of the Common Moorhen eggs are numbered in the order of their laying sequence, and they are further identified by laying hen. The NMDS folder includes NPM matching output and clutch identities needed to perform NMDS and PERMANOVA analyses. It includes consolidated and organized output from NPM for each species as well as files with clutch names needed to create merged datasets for graphing. These data were used to perform non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and permutational analysis of variance (PERMANOVA). The Linear Discriminant Analyses folder includes field data (egg length, width, and identity), pattern data extracted from NPM, as well as the estimated proportion of pigment measured within a scaled oval on binary images of eggs. This was used as a proxy for the relative amount of pigmentation on each egg. These data were used to conduct linear discriminant analyses for each species.