DOI: 10.5061/dryad.s67c8
title: Data from: Photoperiod at the larval stage sets the timing of entire annual program in an herbivorous insect

description: To maximize their fitness, organisms need to synchronize their phenology
 with the seasonal variation in environmental conditions. Most phenological
 traits are affected by environmental abiotic cues such as photoperiod,
 temperature and rainfall. When individuals with complex life-cycles fail
 to match one of the stages with the favourable environment, these negative
 conditions experienced may lead to carry-over effects and, thus, influence
 fitness in subsequent stages. In the winter moth, an herbivorous insect
 with an annual life-cycle, timing of egg-hatching in spring is strongly
 influenced by temperature and varies from year to year. To investigate
 whether the phenological variation in egg-hatching date affects subsequent
 stages, we analysed data on egg-hatching and adult catching date
 (considered here to be a proxy for adult eclosion date) from our long-term
 study (1994-2014). Furthermore, we experimentally manipulated the
 photoperiod experienced by newly hatched larvae and recorded the phenology
 of their subsequent life-cycle stages. In the long-term field study, we
 found that the timing of winter moth egg-hatching in spring varied
 strongly from year to year. Interestingly, however, the timing of adult
 eclosion date in winter showed little inter-annual variation. In line with
 these findings, our experimental data showed that the winter moth
 shortened the duration of their pupal development when they experienced a
 late spring photoperiod as a larva, and prolonged pupal development when
 experiencing early spring photoperiod conditions. The effects of the
 larval photoperiodic treatments persisted during egg development in the
 following generation. The results show that a phenological shift that
 occurs during an early life-stage is partially compensated during
 subsequent stages and suggest that the mechanism underlying this
 compensation is mediated by photoperiod. Winter moths regulated their
 phenology in such a way that the variation in the egg-hatching stage was
 not carried over to the next life-cycle stages. This has strong effects on
 fitness as it (1) ensures the synchronization of adult eclosion during the
 mating period and (2) is likely to reduce potentially negative fitness
 consequences of phenological mismatches in egg hatching in the following
 generation. Overall, these findings stress the importance of understanding
 phenological carry-over effects to forecast the impact of global change in
 species with complex life-cycles.
description: Data for Fig1a
 egg-hatching date vs adult catching dateFile containing data on
 egg-hatching date and adult catching date. Each observation is centered
 around the yearly mean.DataforFig1a egg-hatching date
 vs adult catching_date.txtData for Fig1b
 egg-hatching date vs adult catching dateFile containing data on
 annual mean for egg-hatching date and adult catching date. Each value is
 centered around the average of the total period of the study
 (1994-2014).Data for Fig1b egg-hatching
 date vs adult catching_date.txtR script for
 Fig1File containing the R
 script for performing the analysis in Figure 1a and the graph of Figure
 1b.Data on larval
 developmental timeData on pupal
 developmental timeData on egg
 developmental timeR script for analysis of
 larval pupal and egg development timeFile containing the R
 script for performing the analysis of larval, pupal and egg developmental
 time.R script for fecundity
 analysisData on female
 fecundityData_on_female_fecundity.txtData on larval, pupal and adult weightData_weight.txtR script for larval pupal and adult weight analysisR script for ordered heterogeneity test for larval pupal and adult weightOHtest_weight_larvaeOHtest_weight_pupaeOHtest_weight_adultr script for analysis and OHtests of temperature humidity and light datatemperature_datahumidity_datalight_datatemperature_coef_for_OHtesthumidity_coef_for_OHtestlight_coef_for_OHtestR script for analysis of survivorshipData_survivorship_larvae_to_pupaeData_survivorship_pupae_to_adultData_survivorship_adult_to_eggs