DOI: 10.5061/dryad.sn02v6xc2
title: Higher heat acclimation ability in a non-native versus a native dung beetle (Onthophagus spp.)

description: Invasive species may be more capable of adjusting to climate warming via
 phenotypic plasticity than native species since plasticity is thought to
 increase invasion success. Physiological plasticity via acclimation is one
 way in which organisms can adjust their thermal tolerance in response to
 temperature change, but few studies have addressed whether invasive
 species have greater thermal plasticity compared to native congeners. Here
 we investigated whether thermal plasticity via temperature acclimation
 varies between two Onthophagus dung beetle species, the non-native
 Onthophagus taurus and the native Onthophagus hecate, collected from both
 Florida and Tennessee, USA. We expected the non-native O. taurus to
 demonstrate greater plasticity than the native O. hecate; we also
 predicted that beetles from Florida would have reduced plasticity since
 their environment is less thermally variable. To examine thermal
 plasticity, we measured shifts in time until loss of function (i.e., leg
 mobility) following acclimation to hot or cold temperature treatments. We
 found that non-native O. taurus from Florida acclimated to warm
 temperatures, increasing time to loss of function following warm
 treatments; unexpectedly, O. taurus from Tennessee showed no warm
 acclimation ability. Onthophagus hecate did not acclimate to warm
 temperatures in either location. In contrast, both species showed similar
 levels of cold acclimation. Taken together, our results suggest that the
 non-native species, O. taurus, will be more capable of using
 physiological adjustments to respond to climate warming than the native
 species, O. hecate.
description: ## Thermal acclimation data for an introduced and a native dung beetle
 (*Onthophagus spp.*)
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sn02v6xc2](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sn02v6xc2) ### Description File includes data used to examine whether thermal plasticity following temperature acclimation varies between two *Onthophagus* dung beetle species, the introduced *O. taurus* and the native *O. hecate*, collected from both Florida and Tennessee, USA. The data file is associated with the following manuscript: Mamantov, M.A., Sheldon, K.S. Higher heat acclimation ability in a non-native versus a native dung beetle (*Onthophagus *spp.). *Biol Invasions* **27**, 47 (2025). [https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-024-03511-2](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-024-03511-2) ### Corresponding author Kimberly S. Sheldon Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN 37996-1610  [ksheldon@utk.edu](mailto:ksheldon@utk.edu) ### File list Thermal-plasticity-data-Onthophagus-Mamantov-Sheldon.xlsx ### File descriptions The excel file has two sheets. The first sheet contains data on time to loss of function of the introduced *O. taurus* and the native *O. hecate* collected from both Florida and Tennessee, USA following either warm or cold acclimation. NA in a cell signifies data we were unable to collect from a particular beetle. The second sheet in the file contains the metadata that explains each column of data, including the corresponding units for all the variables.