Data from: Thermal stress has size-dependent but not sex-specific effects on mortality in an insect model

Climate change is raising average temperatures and intensifying the
frequency and severity of heatwaves, threatening animal populations.
Ectotherms are especially vulnerable to increased temperature due to their
limited capacity for thermoregulation, with studies indicating reduced
survival under heat stress. Within-population variation in mortality under
stressful temperatures could limit our ability to make broader ecological
predictions. For example, males and females can exhibit physiological and
behavioural differences that extend to differences in heat sensitivity.
Body size can also influence temperature tolerance and could contribute to
such differences. To this end, we exposed male and female burying beetles
(Nicrophrous vespilloides) of a wide range of body sizes to a simulated
heatwave of 26°C and examined the resulting mortality rates compared to
control beetles kept at 20°C. We found that beetles exposed to the
heatwave suffered significantly increased mortality, but there was no
difference between males and females. We also found that a smaller body
size was associated with significantly higher mortality following exposure
to the simulated heatwave. This size-dependent effect suggests that
warming-induced reductions in body size may also indirectly result in
higher mortality rates, thereby exacerbating the effects of climate change
on animal populations. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of
considering sources of within-population heterogeneity when measuring
responses to climate change, as traits such as body size may mediate
thermal sensitivity even in the absence of sex-specific differences.

# Data from: Thermal stress has size-dependent but not sex-specific
effects on mortality in an insect model Dataset DOI:
[10.5061/dryad.d7wm37qgx](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.d7wm37qgx) ##
Description of the data and file structure Title: Thermal stress has
size-dependent but not sex-specific effects on mortality in an insect
model Description: Here, we investigated the effects of thermal stress on
mortality in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. We tested sex
and body-size differences in mortality after a simulated heatwave (3 days
at 26°C). ### Files and variables #### File: Data.csv
**Description:** This dataset consists of one spreadsheet, which provides
data on mortality and body mass in the burying beetle *Nicrophorus
vespilloides* under different thermal regimes. Each line represents one
individual. ##### Variables * Treatment: one of two thermal regimes as
listed below * Control - a control treatment where beetles were kept at a
constant temperature (20°C) throughout the experiment. * Heat - a
treatment where newly-eclosed beetles were exposed to a simulated 3-day
heatwave (26°C). * Sex: individual sex (male/female) * Generation: rearing
generation of the individual * Mass: individual mass (mg) * Longevity:
observation period where death was recorded (numbers represent day after
the start of the experiment). * Mortality: dead or alive (0 = alive, 1 =
dead) #### File: R_code.txt **Description:** This text file contains the
code used in R for statistical analysis and figure creation. ##
Code/software ``` R version 4.5.2 Packages: car 3.1-3 lme4 1.1-37 survival
3.8-6 frailtypack 3.8.0 dplyr 1.1.4 tidyr 1.3.1 DHARMa 0.4.7 ggplot2 3.5.2
patchwork 1.3.0 ggeffects 2.3.2 survminer 0.5.2 ```