DOI: 10.5061/dryad.c866t1g3n
title: Microclimate temperatures impact nesting preference in Megachile rotundata

description: The temperature of the nest influences fitness in cavity-nesting bees.
 Females may choose 14 nest cavities that mitigate their offspring’s
 exposure to stressful temperatures. This study aims to 15 understand how
 cavity temperature impacts the nesting preference of the solitary bee
 Megachile 16 rotundata under field conditions. We designed and 3D printed
 nest boxes that measured the 17 temperatures of 432 cavities. Nest boxes
 were four-sided with cavity entrances facing northeast, 18 northwest,
 southeast, and southwest. Nest boxes were placed along an alfalfa field in
 Fargo, ND 19 and were observed daily for completed nests. Our study found
 that cavity temperature varied by 20 direction the cavity faced and by the
 position of the cavity within the nest box. The southwest 21 sides
 recorded the highest maximum temperatures while the northeast sides
 recorded the lowest 22 maximum temperatures. Nesting females filled
 cavities on the north-facing sides faster than 23 cavities on the
 south-facing sides. The bees preferred to nest in cavities with lower
 average 24 temperatures during foraging hours, and cavities that faced to
 the north. The direction the cavity 25 faced was associated with the
 number of offspring per nest. The southwest-facing cavities had 26 fewer
 offspring than nests on the northeast side. Our study indicates that the
 nesting box acts as a 27 microclimate, with temperature varying by
 position and direction of the cavity. Variation in 28 cavity temperature
 affected where females chose to nest, but not their reproductive
 investment.
description: This data was collect from a field site in Fargo North Dakota
 using 108 3-D printed nesting boxes. These boxes were stacked in a 3x3
 pattern facing the four ordinal directions, Northeast, Northwest,
 Southwest and Southeast. Three replicates were used and were made up of 36
 individual blocks. Each block contained an individual iButton that
 measured the four cavities within each nesting box. The iButton collected
 the temperature of the box/four cavities to the nearest 0.5C every 15
 minutes from June 21st to Sept. 22nd 2018. Nest boxes were check every day
 for completed nests and the date and position of the cavity was recorded
 until all 108 blocks were filled.  The data has been
 processed using RStudio (2019, version 1.1.419) and R (R Core Team 149
 2019, version 3.5.2).
description: “Microclimate impacts
 nesting preference of Megachile rotundata” (Wilson et al. 2020)
 Column Names and
 Definitions <i>NP_Binomial.csv</i> <b>Direction</b>- This is the ordinal direction the nest box was facing <b>Replicate</b>- The replicate id. <b>Block</b>- The block number that depicts the specific coordinates of the block within each side of 9. <b>Nest ID</b>-The full Id for each individual nest. This includes the direction, replicate, block and nest position. <b>Capped Date</b>- The date the nest was finished as indicated by the leaf cap.   <b>Nest Size</b>- The number of brood cells within a nest. <b>Start Date</b>- The day the nest was started calculated by taking the Capped subtracted by the nest size. <b>All Date</b>- Each individual day the experiment ran. <b>Temp_AllDate</b>- The average temperature of that an individual block, by each All Date. <b>Status</b>- Whether a cavity was chosen (filled), unchosen (unfilled), or already filled (taken) based on the All Date. <b>Output</b>- A binomial cavity of Status filled=1, unfilled=0. The taken observations were not included with a binomial variable because they were going to be removed from analysis. <i>Nest Pref_Julia.csv (This is a dataset generated based off of NP_Binomial.csv. The differences include inclusion of a row, column, and Nest Position column. However, this dataset has removed all of the “Taken” observations in Status in order to complete the linear models. Taken observations include nesting cavities that were not available for choice based on the All_Date and thus should not be used in the Choice analysis. Nest Pref_Julia.csv also only includes All_Date once approx. 50% of cavities were filled, because how much choice is available when half of the options are taken.)</i> <b>Direction</b>- This is the ordinal direction the nest box was facing <b>Replicate</b>- The replicate id. <b>Block</b>- The block number that depicts the specific coordinates of the block within each side of 9. <b>Row</b>- The id of the row within the side of the nesting box. The top row is labeled as 1 the middle 2, and the last row is 3. <b>Column</b>- The id of the column within the side of the nesting box. The column farthest to the left is 1, the middle column 2, and the farthest column to the right is 3. <b>NestID</b>-The full Id for each individual nest. This includes the direction, replicate, block and nest position. <b>NestP</b>- The id of the position within a nesting block. Each block contains four cavities. The upper left cavity is 1, the top right 2, bottom left 3, and bottom right 4. <b>Capped Date</b>- The date the nest was finished. This was calculated by taking the Start Date subtracted by the nest size. <b>Nest Size</b>- The number of brood cells within a singular nest. <b>Start Date</b>- The day the nest was started as indicated by presence of nesting. <b>All Date</b>- Each individual day the experiment ran. <b>Temp_AllDate</b>- The average temperature of that an individual block by each All Date. <b>Status</b>- Whether a cavity was chosen (filled) or unchosen (unfilled) based on the All Date. <b>Output</b>- A binomial cavity of Status filled=1, unfilled=0. <i>Elisaabeth_data_Aug21st.csv</i> <b>Column A</b>- A hold over from the individual ibutton download. It has no bearing on the data or manipulation. <b>Dates</b>- The date the temperatures were collected on. <b>Month</b>- The numerical indicator for the month the temperature was collected on. <b>Day</b>- The numerical indicator for the day the temperature was collected on. <b>Time</b>- The time interval the temperature was collected on. <b>Hour</b>- The hour the data was collected. <b>Minutes</b>- The minute the data was collected. <b>Direction</b>- This is the ordinal direction the nest box was facing. <b>Replication</b>- The replicate id. <b>Block</b>- The block number that depicts the specific coordinates of the block within each side of 9. <b>recordDate</b>- The full recorded date of the temperature. <b>Temperture</b>- The temperature of each individual block on each recordDate, and each time period. Temperture is misspelled in the dataset. <b>Max Temp by Direction</b>- The maximum temperature reached by each direction, and replicate.