Data: Impact of thermal stress during pupal development in a key pollinator
Data files
Oct 08, 2025 version files 1.86 MB
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Data_ThermalStress_pupae.csv
99.01 KB
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Laußer_Kurze_2025_RMD_CodeAndOutput.pdf
1.48 MB
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Laußer_Kurze_2025_RMD_ESM.Rmd
85.72 KB
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Laußer_Kurze_tableS1_cohorts_ESM.csv
5.98 KB
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README.md
2.70 KB
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tpsData.txt
180.82 KB
Abstract
The increasing frequency and intensity of extreme thermal events like heatwaves, driven by climate change, threaten global biodiversity and entire ecosystems. Despite alarming projections of population declines for key pollinators like bumblebees, little is known about the direct impact of varying elevated temperatures during their pupal development. To gain a better understanding of the dose-response to thermal stress, we experimentally exposed Bombus terrestris L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) pupae in vitro to varying thermal stress lengths (3-7 days) and intensities (36-38°C). This mechanistic approach allowed us to uniquely isolate the direct physiological effects of temperature on pupal development from complex colony dynamics and assess individual emergence success, developmental duration, body size, relative lipid content, and wing geometric morphometrics. At the critical threshold of 38°C, pupal emergence was drastically reduced (2-5 fold) and wing deformities increased (4-7 fold). Even excluding wing deformities, we found thermal stress-induced effects on emerged worker wing shape and directional asymmetry. Hence, our findings suggest that increased extreme thermal stress negatively impacts bumblebee pupal development. Given the relative heat tolerance of B. terrestris, we expect even greater vulnerability in more cold-adapted bumblebee species.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.n02v6wx7z
Description of the data and file structure
This README provides information about the data files associated with the manuscript titled "Impact of thermal stress during pupal development in a key pollinator". These data files contain the datasets and RMD script on which our statistical analysis is based.
Files and variables
Data File: Data_ThermalStress_pupae.csv
This is the main data file, containing:
id = Bee ID
colony =Colony name/ID
collected = Date when 4th instar larva was collected
treatment = Treatment group to which a larva was assigned
temp = Temperature (in °C) the larva was exposed to
dur = Duration (in days) for which the larva of exposed
date_start = Date when larva pupated, and the treatment started
date_hatching = Date when larva emerged as an adult
date_death = Date when individual died
emerged = Classifier if an adult bee emerged (1 = emerged; 0 = died before)
days_to_emergence = Duration (in days) required for the pupa to develop into adults
sex = Identified sex in adult bees (male or female)
wing_develop = Wing development (developed = “normally” developed; deformed = noticeable wing deformities)
itd = Intertegular distance (in mm)
head_width = Head width (in mm)
mass_pupae = Pupae mass at the start of the experiment (in mg)
mass_adults = Adult mass after emergence (in mg)
dry_mass = Adult dry mass (in mg)
lipid_mass = Adult lipid mass (in mg)
rel_lipid_content = Relative lipid content = lipid_mass/dry_mass
Data File: tpsData.txt
This data file contains the tps coordinates for wing geometric morphometric analysis.
LM=20 = indicates 20 landmarks, which are provided in the following 20 lines as x-y-coordinates
IMAGE = image file name
ID = sample ID
SCALE = scale of 1 mm in the image
Data File: Laußer_Kurze_tableS1_cohorts_ESM.csv
This is a data summary table S1, showing the exact sample size (n) per sampling cohort.
colony =Colony name/ID
treatment = Treatment group to which a larva was assigned
collected = Date when 4th instar larva was collected
n = sample size of pupae assigned to respective treatment group per cohort
Code/software
Script Files: Laußer_Kurze_2025_RMD_CodeAndOutput.pdf
This is the R Markdown PDF output containing the complete R code for reproducing the statistical analysis and figures presented in our manuscript.
Script Files: Laußer_Kurze_2025_RMD_ESM.Rmd
This is the R Markdown file containing the entire R code for reproducing the statistical analysis and figures presented in our manuscript.