DOI: 10.5061/dryad.x69p8czr9
title: Data for: Plasticity in mosquito size and thermal tolerance across a latitudinal climate gradient

description: Variations in heat tolerance among populations can determine whether a
 species can cope with ongoing climate change. Such variation may be
 especially important for ectotherms whose body temperatures, and
 consequently, physiological processes, are regulated by external
 conditions. Additionally, differences in body size are often associated
 with latitudinal clines, thought to be driven by climate gradients. While
 studies have begun to explore variation in body size and heat tolerance
 within species, our understanding of these patterns across large spatial
 scales, particularly regarding the roles of plasticity and genetic
 differences, remains incomplete. Here, we examine body size, as measured
 by wing length, and thermal tolerance, as measured by the time to
 immobilization at high temperatures (“thermal knockdown”), in populations
 of the mosquito Aedes sierrensis collected from across a large latitudinal
 climate gradient spanning 1300 km (34-44 °N). We find that
 mosquitoes collected from lower latitudes and warmer climates were more
 tolerant of high temperatures than those collected from higher latitudes
 and colder climates. Moreover, body size increased with latitude and
 decreased with temperature, a pattern consistent with James’ rule, which
 appears to be a result of plasticity rather than genetic variation. Our
 results suggest that warmer environments produce smaller and more
 thermally tolerant populations.
description: This data on body size and thermal tolerance was collected by
 measuring the wing length and knockdown time of 13 populations
 of<em> Aedes sierrensis</em> across the Pacific Coast of North
 America. We also analyze a subset of the data from another experiment of 9
 populations of laboratory-reared <em>Aedes sierrensis</em>
 from Couper et al. 2024 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.2457.
description: # Data for: Plasticity in mosquito size and thermal tolerance across a
 latitudinal climate gradient
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.x69p8czr9](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.x69p8czr9) The first dataset KD-lat.lon.csv includes information about the site locations including latitude, longitude, and mean annual temperature. The next dataset KD-time.wings.analysis.csv includes information from the main plasticity experiment in which we measured knockdown time, wing length, and thorax length. The final dataset lab_reared.csv is a subset of data from the experiment in Couper et al. 2024 on the size of individuals from 9 other locations reared in the lab at 13, 17, 24, or 28°C. ## Description of the data and file structure Use the code KD_analysis_submission_R2.R which pulls in the three datasets described in detail below to create the figures in the manuscript. NA means that the measure was unavailable likely due to the thorax being damaged or that the measure was not relevant for that individual. ### KD-lat.lon.csv * Population: the location identifier * Latitude and Longitude * Males: sample size of male mosquitoes * Females: sample size of female mosquitoes * Temp: the mean annual temperature degrees C * Precip: mean annual precipitation in mm ### KD-time.wings.analysis.csv * Sample.ID: an identifier for each mosquito * Treehole.ID: the location identifier * Sex: M=male and F=female * KD_diff: the knockdown time in minutes * block: the set of individuals run during the same knockdown trial * Right_winglength: wing length in mm * Thorax: thorax length in mm ### lab\_reared\_R.csv * X: a number for each mosquito * Population: the location identifier * SampleID: an identifier for each mosquito * Temp.Treatment: the temperature it was reared at either 13, 17, 24, or 28°C * Date.Adult.Eclosion: date the individual eclosed MM/DD/YYYY * Date.Adult.Death: date the individual died MM/DD/YYYY * Sex: M=male and F=female * Left.Wing.Length: wing length in mm * AdultLifespan: lifespan in days from eclosion to death * Latitude and Longitude * Temp: the mean annual temperature at the site of collection in degrees C * Wet.Temp: the mean temperature during the wettest quarter at the site of collection in degrees C * Thorax: thorax length in mm ## Sharing/Access information This data was created by the authors. ## Code/Software The R code was run using version 4.1.1 and uses the packages ggplot2, lme4, lmerTest, car, gridExtra, sf, effectsize, and lavaan. It creates all the plots for the manuscript and runs the mixed effect models and structural equation models.