Data collected between 2019 and 2022 from a wild Soay sheep population on Hirta, St Kilda, Scotland. It includes individual-level measures of gut bacteria, parasites, immunology, morphology, health, and fitness, alongside local vegetation and weather data. The data was produced by a collaborative team from the Universities of Edinburgh, Liverpool, Sheffield, and Aberystwyth, the Moredun Research Institute, and the James Hutton Institute.
Use Cases
- Modeling the influence of weather and vegetation on gut bacterial community structure based on environmental data.
- Investigating correlations between parasite burden and immune phenotypes based on individual health measurements.
- Analyzing longitudinal health and fitness outcomes based on data from animals monitored from birth.
- Studying the genetic and environmental shaping of the gut microbiome based on long-term study methods.
Strengths
- Data collection spans four years (2019-2022), providing a multi-year time series.
- Integrates multiple data types from individual animals, including gut microbiome, parasites, immunology, and morphology.
- Builds upon a long-term study with established fieldwork methods used continuously since 1985.
- Includes environmental context with local weather and vegetation data.
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to a single island population.
Provenance
- Source
- Environmental Information Data Centre
- Collection Method
- Field data collected from individually monitored sheep using established methods, including capture for measurement and sampling, and non-invasive faecal sampling from around 200 animals.
- Time Range
- 2019-2022
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-05-28 15:05:12.732845; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- Village Bay area of Hirta, St Kilda archipelago, North-West Scotland