Data from: Fighting through the heat: How male aggression influences demography under recurrent heatwaves
Data files
Oct 07, 2025 version files 150.98 KB
-
README.md
15.66 KB
-
SS_heat_demography_dryad.xlsx
135.32 KB
Abstract
Sexual selection is a potent evolutionary force that can enhance adaptation and reduce mutational load, while simultaneously reducing survival, or cause sexual conflict that reduces fitness for one or both sexes. Many populations today face not only gradual environmental changes but also extreme, short-term stress events. The combined effects of sexual and environmental selection on population demography during and after such events remain poorly understood, even though such combined effects could be crucial for the persistence of small, endangered populations under climate change. This dataset derives from a multi-generational experimental evolution study investigating how sexual selection interacts with thermal stress to shape population demography in the male-dimorphic soil mite Sancassania berlesei. It includes detailed generational records from 42 populations subjected to a factorial design manipulating sexual selection intensity (via pheromone-induced morph suppression) and exposure to recurrent heatwaves. Key variables include juvenile counts, adult survival before and after heat stress, sex ratios, male morph frequencies (fighter vs. scrambler), and extinction events, recorded over eight generations.The dataset enables fine-scale analysis of how sexually selected traits and environmental stressors jointly affect survival, sex-specific mortality, and extinction risk. It has strong reuse potential for researchers studying eco-evolutionary dynamics, sexual selection, inbreeding, and climate resilience in small populations. All data were collected under standardized laboratory conditions, with no human or vertebrate subjects involved.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.1jwstqk6h
Description of the data and file structure
This dataset originates from a multi-generational experimental evolution study designed to test how male aggression, manipulated via pheromonal control of male morphs, influences population survival and extinction risk under recurrent heat stress. The focal species is Sancassania berlesei, a male-dimorphic soil mite. Forty-two replicate populations were tracked over eight generations under a 2×2 factorial design:
-
Pheromone regime: Control (normal fighter prevalence) vs. Treatment (reduced fighter prevalence via pheromonal cues)
-
Temperature regime: Stable (23°C) vs. Heatwave (45-hour exposure, escalating from 34°C to 38°C)
Files and variables
File: SS_heat_demography_dryad.xlsx
| Sheet | variable | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Rows highlighted in yellow are extinct population | ||
| overall_data | vial | Population ID |
| Pheromone | Pheromone regime: Pheromone control- populations not exposed to pheromones, Pheromone treatment: pheromone exposed populations | |
| Temperature | Temperature regime: Stable: No heatwaves, Heatwave: 45 hrs heatwave at adult stage | |
| generation | generations | |
| count_no | First or the second adult counts | |
| female | number of females in a given count | |
| fighter | number of fighters in a given count | |
| scrambler | number of scramblers in a given count | |
| trito | number of tritonymphs in the given counts | |
| inter | number of intermorphs (males with one leg thickened instead of two) in the given counts | |
| total | total number of individuals | |
| larvae | number of juveniles (larave/protonymphs) used for starting a new generation | |
| n/a for extinct populations and missing data for HF1 generation 7 count1 | ||
| survival | line | Population ID |
| Pheromone | Pheromone regime: Pheromone control- populations not exposed to pheromones, Pheromone treatment: pheromone exposed populations | |
| Temperature | Temperature regime: Stable: No heatwaves, Heatwave: 45 hrs heatwave at adult stage | |
| generation | generations | |
| surv | population survival, 1 - survived; 2 - not surivived | |
| juvenile | number of juveniles (larave/protonymphs) used for starting a new generation | |
| ad_total_I | total number of mites (females, scramblers, fighters and tritonymphs) in the first adult counts (before heatwaves) | |
| ad_total_II | total number of mites (females, scramblers, fighters and tritonymphs) in the second adult counts (after heatwaves) | |
| trito | number of tritonymphs in the first counts for each population in each generation | |
| n/a for extinct populations and missing data for HF1 generation 7 count1 | ||
| sex | line | Population ID |
| Pheromone | Pheromone regime: Pheromone control- populations not exposed to pheromones, Pheromone treatment: pheromone exposed populations | |
| Temperature | Temperature regime: Stable: No heatwaves, Heatwave: 45 hrs heatwave at adult stage | |
| generation | generations | |
| sex | sex of the adult | |
| ad_total_I | total number of observed adults of a given sex in the first adult counts (before heatwaves) | |
| ad_total_II | total number of observed adults of a given sex in the second adult counts (after heatwaves) | |
| trito | number of tritonymphs in the first counts for each population in each generation | |
| n/a for extinct populations, where number of tritonymphs in the first count is more than 1, missing data for HF1 generation 7 count1 | ||
| morph | line | Population ID |
| Pheromone | Pheromone regime: Pheromone control- populations not exposed to pheromones, Pheromone treatment: pheromone exposed populations | |
| Temperature | Temperature regime: Stable: No heatwaves, Heatwave: 45 hrs heatwave at adult stage | |
| gen | generations | |
| count | First or the second adult counts | |
| female | number of females in a given count | |
| fig | number of fighters in a given count | |
| scr | number of scramblers in a given count | |
| trito | number of tritonymphs in the first counts for each population in each generation | |
| total | total individuals survived | |
| larvae | number of juveniles (larave/protonymphs) used for starting a new generation | |
| n/a for extinct populations and missing data for HF1 generation 7 count1 | ||
