Effects of body size and weather on telomere length
We investigated factors affecting fledgling TL (response variable) by constructing 30 biologically plausible linear mixed effects models with combinations of the explanatory variables sex, age, standardized tarsus length, brood size (number of chicks in the nest at the time of sampling), and the NAO_30 index. In addition, an interaction term between island population identity (i.e. high or lowselection regime) and tarsus length was included in some models to test for an effect of the artificial selection regimes on the relationship between TL and tarsus length. Brood identity and year (cohort) effects were accounted for by inclusion as random intercepts in all models. Again, candidate models were compared using AICc.