DOI: 10.5061/dryad.stqjq2ccc
title: Data from: Heritability of body size matches trait evolution in the range expansion of a biological control agent

description: The heritability of a trait determines whether selection will lead to a
 change in that trait. Heritability can be measured through breeding
 designs where the parents are known and the trait is measured on offspring
 of known relatedness, such as full siblings and half siblings. During
 range expansion, individuals at the edge are predicted to evolve higher
 fecundity and greater dispersal ability than core individuals. In insects,
 both of these are correlated with larger body size. These data were
 collected to investigate the genetic variation available for evolution of
 body size of a beetle introduced to North America for biological control
 (Diorhabda carinulata). The data consist of measurements of body mass and
 thorax width of full sibling and half sibling families of D. carinulata
 from one population at the origin of the range expansion. 
description: The data consists of measurements of two traits related to body
 size: weight at eclosion and thorax width of individual beetles of known
 parentage in full sibling families, nested into half-sibling families.
 Weight at eclosion was measured on the day that the beetle emerged as an
 adult. Thorax width is unlikely to change after eclosion, so it was
 measured on adults in the weeks after eclosion. Due to experimental
 constraints, we could not measure thorax width on all individuals, so some
 individuals are missing this data. Traits were measured on three offspring
 per full-sibling family, two females and one male. At the time of the
 measurements, the rearing environment of all full-siblings was identical.
 At eclosion, beetles were separated and reared separately in individual
 cups with plenty of food. Rearing conditions of all
 beetles were standardized in growth chambers set to long daylengths that
 would promote reproduction. Beetles were fed ad libitum with fresh
 tamarisk, the natural food source. Research was
 performed in summer of 2019 at Colorado State University, Fort Collins,
 Colorado, USA in the Agricultural Biology Department.
description: # Metadata for Data from: "Heritability of body size matches trait
 evolution in the range expansion of a biological control agent" ###
 **Description of columns in weight_width_submit.csv** **beetle_ID:** A
 unique identifier for each offspring beetle on which a trait was measured.
 The ID consists of three parts. The first part is a number that identifies
 the sire (male parent). Second, a letter that identifies the dam (female
 parent). Note that this letter is nested within sire (e.g., dam A mated to
 sire 1 is different than dam A mated to sire 2). Third, a letter S, L, or
 M, which indicates male (M), or female (S or L). The S and L indicate
 treatments which took place after collection on these data and do not
 indicate any experimentally planned differences between the females at
 this stage of the experiment. **sire:** Indicates the identity of sire.
 This ranges from 1 to 39. This information can also be extracted from
 **beetle_ID**. **dam:** Indicates the identity of dam, nested within sire.
 Some sires mated with 8 females and for those sires, values range from A
 to H. Other sires mated with 7 females, and for those sires, values range
 from A to G. As noted above, there is no relationship between dams with
 the same letter. Some sires will be missing one or more letters for dams,
 because some pairings did not produce offspring. This information can also
 be extracted from **beetle_ID**. **sex:** Indicates whether a beetle is
 male or female. Males are indicated with "M" and females with
 "F". **weight:** Mass of the beetle, in milligrams. Weight was
 taken on the day of eclosion. These are the data that are used in Figure
 1. They are also used in the top half of Table 1. **eclosion_date:** Date
 that the beetle emerged as an adult and also the date on which the beetle
 was weighed. **th_width:** Width of thorax, in millimeters. Measured with
 calipers. These are the data used in Figure 2. They are also used in the
 bottom half of Table 1. Due to experimental constraints, the thorax width
 of a few individuals was not able to be measured.