DOI: 10.5061/dryad.573n5tbc5
title: Cold comfort: metabolic rate and tolerance to low temperatures predict latitudinal distribution in ants

description: Metabolic compensation has been proposed as a mean for ectotherms to cope
 with colder climates. For example, under the metabolic cold adaptation and
 the metabolic homeostasis hypotheses (MCA and MHH), it has been formulated
 that cold-adapted ectotherms should display both higher (MCA) and more
 thermally sensitive (MHH) metabolic rates (MRs) at lower temperatures.
 However, whether such compensation can truly be associated with
 distribution, and whether it interplays with cold-tolerance to support
 species’ climatic niches, remains largely unclear despite broad ecological
 implications thereof. Here, we teased apart the relationship between MRs,
 cold-tolerance, and distribution, to test the MCA/MHH among 13 ant
 species. We report clear metabolic compensation effects, consistent with
 the MCA and MHH, where MR parameters strongly correlated with latitude and
 climatic factors across species’ distributions. The combination of both
 cold-tolerance and MR further upheld the best predictions of species’
 climatic niches. To our knowledge, this is the first study showing that
 the association of metabolic data with cold-tolerance supports better
 predictive models of climatic temperature and distribution in social
 insects than models including cold-tolerance alone. These results also
 highlight that adaptation to higher latitudes in ants involved adjustments
 of both cold-tolerance and MRs, to allow this extremely successful group
 of insects to thrive under colder climates.
description: Cold tolerance and metabolic data of model species.
 <br><br>Georeferrenced species records can be publicly
 accessed fron the Global Ant Biodiversity (GABI) database, and climatic
 data extracted from the global database of soil and near-surface
 temperatures (SoilTemp) database.
description: # Cold Comfort: metabolic rate and tolerance to low temperatures predict
 latitudinal distribution in ants *** ## General description: files include
 1. Cold-tolerance\_dataset.xlsx: Cold-tolerance dataset of model species
 2. Metabolic\_rate\_dataset.xlsx: Metabolic rate dataset of model species
 at 3 temperatures and climatic variables averaged over species'
 distribution 3. Respirometry\_raw\_data\_graph.pdf: Respirometry trace of
 each model species at 3 temperatures Cold tolerance and metabolic data of
 model species are laboratory recorded. Climatic data have been extracted
 from interpolating the the Global Ant Biodiversity (GABI) database
 georeferenced records with the global database of soil and near-surface
 temperatures (SoilTemp) Date of collection: 2021-2023 Localisation of
 collection: Aarhus Links to publications that cite or use the data:
 Willot, Q., Ørsted, M., Malte, H., Overgaard, J. (2023).Cold comfort:
 metabolic rate and tolerance to low temperatures predict latitudinal
 distribution in ants. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological
 Sciences 290: 20230985 ## Description of the Data and file structure
 ################################ (1) Cold-tolerance\_dataset.xlsx
 Variables * CTmin: Critical Thermal minimum values per replicate per
 species * LatN: northernmost record of occurrence for species * LatS:
 southernmost record of occurrence for species * Annual mean temperature:
 annual mean soil-surface temperatures averaged over species'
 distribution * Mean diurnal range: annual mean soil-surface diurnal range
 temperatures averaged over species' distribution * Max temperature of
 warmest month: averaged soil-surface temperature of the warmest month
 averaged over species' distribution * Min temperature of coldest
 month: averaged soil-surface temperature of the coldest month averaged
 over species' distribution * Annual Precipitation: annual mean
 precipitations averaged over species' distribution
 ################################ (2) Metabolic\_rate\_dataset.xlsx
 Variables * SMR18: average metabolic rates over 3-6 replicates per species
 at 18°C * SMR25: average metabolic rates over 3-6 replicates per species
 at 25°C * SMR30: average metabolic rates over 3-6 replicates per species
 at 30°C * Q10-SMR (18-25°C): Averaged Q10 values of metabolic rate between
 18 and 25°C over 3-6 replicates per species * Q10-SMR (25-30°C): Averaged
 Q10 values of metabolic rate between 25 and 30°C over 3-6 replicates per
 species * LatN: northernmost record of occurrence for species * LatS:
 southernmost record of occurrence for species * Annual mean temperature:
 annual mean soil-surface temperatures averaged over species'
 distribution * Mean diurnal range: annual mean soil-surface diurnal range
 temperatures averaged over species' distribution * Max temperature of
 warmest month: averaged soil-surface temperature of the warmest month
 averaged over species' distribution * Min temperature of coldest
 month: averaged soil-surface temperature of thecoldest month averaged over
 species' distribution * Annual Precipitation: annual mean
 precipitations averaged over species' distribution (mm)
 ################################ (3) Respirometry\_raw\_data\_graph.pdf
 Visual representation of data associated with SMR18, 25 and 30 variables
 in Metabolic\_rate\_dataset.xlsx dataset Y axis: Amount of CO2 excreted
 per replicate per measurement X: measurements number These graphs
 represent the untransformed respirometry trace associated with each
 species at each temperature. The three lowest values per replicate were
 standardized over the biological mass of samples, corrected for
 allemometric scaling of metabolic rate, and averaged to extract SMR values
 at each temperatures provided in Metabolic\_rate\_dataset.xlsx dataset ##
 Sharing/access Information 1\. Links to other publicly accessible
 locations of the data: https://doi\.org/10\.1101/2023\.02\.11\.527843 2\.
 Was data derived from another source? No A. If yes, list source(s): NA 3\.
 Recommended citation for this dataset: Willot, Q., Ørsted, M., Malte, H.,
 Overgaard, J. (2023).Cold comfort: metabolic rate and tolerance to low
 temperatures predict latitudinal distribution in ants. Dryad Digital
 Repository. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.573n5tbc5