DOI: 10.5061/dryad.8qp7s
title: Data from: Female fecundity variation affects reproducibility of experiments on host plant preference and acceptance in a phytophagous insect

description: Reproducibility is a scientific cornerstone. Many recent studies, however,
 describe a reproducibility crisis and call for assessments of
 reproducibility across scientific domains. Here, we explore the
 reproducibility of a classic ecological experiment—that of assessing
 female host plant preference and acceptance in phytophagous insects, a
 group in which host specialization is a key driver of diversification. We
 exposed multiple cohorts of Pieris napi butterflies from the same
 population to traditional host acceptance and preference tests on three
 Brassicaceae host species. Whereas the host plant rank order was highly
 reproducible, the propensity to oviposit on low-ranked hosts varied
 significantly even among cohorts exposed to similar conditions. Much
 variation could be attributed to among-cohort variation in female
 fecundity, a trait strongly correlated both to female size and to the size
 of the nuptial gift a female receives during mating. Small males provide
 small spermatophores, and in our experiment small females that mated with
 small males had a disproportionally low propensity to oviposit on
 low-ranked hosts. Hence, our results provide empirical support to the
 theoretical prediction that female host utilization is strongly affected
 by non-genetic, environmental variation, and that such variation can
 affect the reproducibility of ecological experiments even under seemingly
 identical conditions.
description: Acceptance_Cohorts_a-iAcceptance_Cohorts_a-i.csv This dataset includes acceptance data (eggs laid per day) on three different host plants (BaDay=Barbarea vulgaris, ArDay=Armoracia rusticana, and BrDay=Brassica napus). Columns include also the Cohort (a-i), the butterfly ID number, the site of the experiment (Stockholm/Uppsala), the generation (direct developing/diapausing), the total number of eggs laid in the acceptance experiment, the discal cell length (right forewing), the eggs left in abdomen and the total number of eggs (laid+unlaid).Acceptance_Size_cohorts_a,b.csvThis dataset links the acceptance data (eggs laid/ day) on the three host plants to the size of the female and the size of her mating partner. Columns include also female ID, female size group, male size group, size combination and size combinationComp_Acc-Pref_Cohorts_a,b.csvThis dataset compares the acceptance data (eggs laid/ day) on three different host plants (BaDay=Barbarea vulgaris, ArDay=Armoracia rusticana, and BrDay=Brassica napus) with preference data (eggs laid/day) on the same three hosts. The columns include also female ID, cohort, and test type (choice test of preference, no-choice test of acceptance).Sample_Effect__Cohorts_a.csvThis dataset underlies the analysis of effect size vs. sample size, and reports the Cohort, the mean number of eggs laid by each cohort on each of the three host plants (Barbarea vulgaris, Armoracia rusticana, and Brassica napus), the mean total number of eggs laid, the sample size (n), and the effect size (mean number of eggs laid on Barbarea vulgaris minus the mean number of eggs laid on Armoracia rusticana, mean number of eggs laid on Barbarea vulgaris minus the mean number of eggs laid on Brassica napus, and mean number of eggs laid on Armoracia rusticana minus the mean number of eggs laid on Brassica napus, respectively).Sample_Effect__Cohorts_a-i.csvCohort_j.csvThis dataset reports the number of eggs laid and the number of eggs left in the abdomen in a set of P. napi females that were allowed to oviposit on Brassica napus during their entire post-mating life.