DOI: 10.5061/dryad.m63xsj3zq
title: Data from: Thermal tolerance in two wood ant species and their hybrids

description: Local populations can cope with rising temperatures, if they have adaptive
 potential to face the new thermal regime. Hybridization with a
 closely related lineage is one potential source of adaptive genetic
 variability and an outstanding question is whether hybridization
 could help contemporary populations to adapt in the face of current
 environmental change. We investigate thermal adaptation by
 testing for differences in cold and heat tolerances between
 Finnish populations of two mound-building wood
 ants, Formica polyctena and Formica
 aquilonia, and their naturally occurring hybrids. The results
 showed that parental individuals differed in both cold and heat tolerances
 and expressed thermal limits which reflect the global distributions of the
 parental species, in support to the thermal adaptation hypothesis.
 However, hybrids could not combine the thermal tolerance of both parental
 species as they were equally heat-tolerant to F. polyctena, but
 not equally cold-tolerant to F. aquilonia. Intriguingly, body
 weight had a significant role in thermal tolerance, with heavier ants
 coping better with higher temperatures. These results contribute to
 understanding the outcomes of hybridization and the potential that species
 possess in coping with environmental change. Wood ants are keystone
 species in the boreal forests and important for healthy forest ecosystems,
 but they are threatened by increasing global temperatures and habitat
 destruction. Our findings help to understand how these species may respond
 to global climate change.
description:    
description: <strong>Genotypes+Weight_Table</strong>
 This data file includes microsatellite data from 175 genotyped
 individuals. Each sample has group identity, population of origin, nest
 number and individual ID. This sheet contains also individual dry weight
 in milligrams and the knockdown time from the heat-knockdown experiment
 for each individual. NA values in time refer to individuals who did not
 fall in to heat-coma during the experiment. Status column refers to
 whether the individal fell in to heat-coma (1) or stayed alive (2) in the
 experiment.
 <strong>Chill_Coma_Results</strong>
 This data file contains results from the chill-coma recovery
 experiment with 300 individuals. Each sample has group identity,
 population of origin, nest number, individual ID and recovery time in
 minutes. NA values in time refer to individuals who did not recover from
 chill-coma and were considered dead in the analysis. Status column refers
 to whether the individal died (1) or recovered from the chill-coma(2) in
 the experiment.
 <strong>Heat_Knockdown_Results</strong>
 This data file contains results from the heat-knockdown
 experiment with 299 individuals. Each sample has group identity,
 population of origin, nest number, individual ID and knockdown time in
 hours. NA values in time refer to individuals who did not fall in to
 heat-coma during the experiment. Status column refers to whether the
 individal fell in to heat-coma (1) or did not fall in to heat-coma (2) in
 the experiment.