FORUM is intended for new ideas or new ways of interpreting existing information. It provides a chance for suggesting hypotheses and for challenging current thinking on FORUM ecological issues. A lighter prose, designed to attract readers, will be permitted. Formal research reports, albeit short, will not be accepted, and all contributions should be concise FOR~tUM~l with a relatively short list of references. A summary is not required. T he 'file drawer problem" of non-significant results: does it apply to biological research?

Contact CEH NORA team at noraceh@ceh.ac.ukThe NERC and CEH trademarks and logos ('the Trademarks') are registered trademarks of NERC in the UK and other countries, and may not be used without the prior written consent of the Trademark owner. Although it is claimed that over 95% of scientists in evolution and ecology believe data should be 131 publicly archived [1], mandatory public data archiving (PDA) is raising many issues in the scientific 132 community as evidenced by debates on websites, in blogs and publications [2-10]. Here we focus on the 133 perspective from long-term individual-based studies of wild populations that often span several 134 decades. 135Short and long-term ecological studies differ in several important aspects. For example, in the former, 136 data tend to be collected over a short period of time for one or two papers and once published the data 137 in these papers become less valuable to the collector and can be more useful to others with different 138 perspectives or analytical skills. In contrast, in studies that have followed individuals over their lifetimes, 139 a lot of crucial information is assessed from derived metrics (e.g. survival, lifetime reproductive success) 140 that can only be estimated after many years of fieldwork. Therefore, much value can remain in the 141 primary data even after some of the initial questions are answered. 142Long-term studies are rare and have great scientific value since many important questions in ecology 143 and evolutionary biology can only be answered from the life histories of recognizable individuals [11]. A 144 detailed analysis of the importance of individual-based studies has been documented elsewhere [11], 145 but a few examples are given in Box 1. 146While group discussions and blog posts on PDA related issues have been flourishing, little is formally 147 known and published about the position and concerns of people collecting long-term data. To fill this 148 gap, a survey was conducted to learn their perspectives, and if current data requirements were 149 perceived as problematic, to identify potential alternative data-sharing policies that could be acceptable 150 to the journals, the scientific community and the Principal investigators. 151 152 The survey 153To obtain the opinions of scientists with individual-based longitudinal data, a worldwide survey was sent 154 to 146 PIs of long-term research projects. Responses were received from 73 PIs working on 59 bird 155 studies, 13 mammalian studies and 1 plant study. The 92 projects (some PIs have several projects) range 156 in duration from 5 to 68 years ( Figure 1), with 55 percent collecting data for more than 30 years. Thirty-157 five percent of researchers were required to archive data used in a publication by their current funding 158 agency and 19% by their institution. Eight researchers were required to deposit data by both; therefore 159 59% were not required to archive their data. There was diversity of opinion among PIs about data 160 archiving, but some strong points of consens...

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. Ecological Society of America is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Ecology. Abstract. We examined the effect of age on breeding performance in male and female Merlins (Falco columbarius) from a natural population using a long-term data set. In the analysis, we examined whether differences in chick hatch date and brood size associated with parents of different ages arose due to selection of superior individuals (differential mortality hypothesis) or to changes within individuals over time (inadequate experience hypothesis). In addition, we examined the effect of longevity on production of recruits and lifetime reproductive success (LRS). In both sexes, breeding performance improved with age. In females, this was mainly the result of disproportionate mortality of inferior breeders, with less evidence to support performance changes within individuals. Among males, changes in breeding performance with age were largely the result of improvements within individuals early in their life (between age 1 and 2 +). Production of recruits was not dependent on parental age at the time of breeding for either sex. Recruit production and LRS were both influenced by longevity, so that longer-lived birds produced more offspring over their lifetimes and thereby had a greater probability of producing recruits. The differences between the sexes in terms of age-dependent breeding performance are likely a consequence of the differing roles the two parents play in reproduction. Male Merlins provide most of the food for the pair and their young during the breeding season, and changes in hunting skill with age may account for individual improvements in breeding performance.

Fitness can be profoundly influenced by the age at first reproduction (AFR), but to date the AFR-fitness relationship only has been investigated intraspecifically. Here we investigated the relationship between AFR and average lifetime reproductive success (LRS) across 34 bird species. We assessed differences in the deviation of the Optimal AFR (i.e., the species-specific AFR associated with the highest LRS) from the age at sexual maturity, considering potential effects of life-history as well as social and ecological factors. Most individuals adopted the species-specific Optimal AFR and both the mean and Optimal AFR of species correlated positively with lifespan. Interspecific deviations of the Optimal AFR were associated with indices reflecting a change in LRS or survival as a function of AFR: a delayed AFR was beneficial in species where early AFR was associated with a decrease in subsequent survival or reproductive output. Overall, our results suggest that a delayed onset of reproduction beyond maturity is an optimal strategy explained by a long lifespan and costs of early reproduction. By providing the first empirical confirmations of key predictions of life-history theory across species, this study contributes to a better understanding of life-history evolution.

We examined the effects of nest‐site quality and bird quality on breeding performance in male and female Merlins Falco columbarius from a long‐term study in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. In addition, we tested whether nest‐site quality was associated with survival, as well as lifetime reproductive success (LRS). For females, nest‐site quality had little influence on any of the measures of breeding performance or survival. Even so, when females switched nest‐sites, they tended to move to better ones. Hatch date was repeatable for the same females occupying different nest‐sites but not for the same sites occupied by different females. Among males, birds surviving past each age category tended to occupy nest‐sites of higher quality, and LRS was positively correlated with nest‐site quality. The relationship between nest‐site quality and LRS was heavily influenced by the poorest nest‐sites. When males switched nest‐sites, they too tended to move to ones of higher quality. In addition, chick hatch date was repeatable neither for the same males occupying different sites nor for the same sites occupied by different males. As with most other raptors, male Merlins provide most of the food for the pair and their young during the breeding season, and differences in nest‐site quality may have affected the effort needed by males to secure food. Female Merlins, however, appear still to have considerable control over the timing of breeding.