Data from: Vertical and temporal specialisation in Amazonian butterflies and evolution of their thermal traits
Data files
Aug 22, 2025 version files 225.63 KB
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FiguresTablesCode.R
29.10 KB
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Morpho_data.xlsx
141.12 KB
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README.md
5.82 KB
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Tree.tre
49.59 KB
Abstract
Closely-related species living in sympatry are often partitioned into divergent ecological niches. Such specialization can be enabled by the evolution of divergent traits enhancing adaptation to different niches. In this study, we investigate the partitioning of closely-related butterfly species into different forest strata and daily activity time and test the effects of such spatio-temporal niches on the evolution of thermal traits. First, using experiments in the field in Amazonia, we precisely characterized the daily activity patterns of nine species of Morpho butterflies, therefore documenting extensive temporal segregation among species and observing significant variations in temperature between their respective niches. Using controlled experiments in the lab, we then tested the thermal tolerance of wild individuals to both hot and cold conditions. The vertical distribution of species (understory vs. canopy micro-habitats) had a significant effect on several thermal traits, even when controlling for the phylogenetic distances between species, suggesting that forest stratification may shaped thermal adaptation in these tropical butterflies. However, butterfly activity time did not correlate with any thermal traits measured. The extensive temporal segregation observed between these sympatric species might thus stem from ecological interactions observed between species rather than thermal factors.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.pk0p2nh0q
Description of the data and file structure
This dataset contains the characterisation of the patrolling times of 9 Morpho species in French Guiana, as well as the results of an array of thermal tolerance experiments to hot (50°C) and cold (-20°C) conditions. Sampling of temperature over 8 consecutive days at the sampling spot is also present. Also, this dataset contains the data and code required to replicate analyses.
Files and variables
File: FiguresTablesCode.R
Description: Code for reproducing data analyses and figures of the paper
Annotations are provided throughout the script through 1) library loading, 2) dataset loading and cleaning, 3) analyses, and 4) figure creation.
File: Tree.tre
Description: Morpho phylogenetic tree, from Chazot et al. 2016.
File: Morpho_data.xlsx
Description: All empirical data collected in French Guiana. It contains five sheets :
-Patrolling_observations: Patrolling times of all Morpho individuals.
- Date: date at which the observation was made.
- Time: time at which the observation was made.
- Minutes_after_sunrise: time (in minutes) at which the observation was made, depending on the sunrise time.
- Species: Currently valid scientific name for the Morpho species observed.
- Sex: Sex of the observed individual.
- Full_Species: Full (genus + species) currently valid scientific name for the individual observed.
- Clade: Micro-habitat clade of the individual, either Canopy or Understory.
-Temperature_sampling: Temperature sampling data, taken over 8 days under a shaded area at the sampling spot.
- Date: date at which the observation was made.
- Time: time at which the observation was made.
- Temperature: temperature (in Celsius degrees) measured at the sampling spot.
- datetime: Date and time put together.
- Minutes_after_sunrise: time (in minutes) at which the observation was made, depending on the sunrise time.
-Thermal_tolerance: Thermal tolerance records of all tested individuals
- ID: Number ID of the tested individual.
- Scale_type: Scale type of the tested individual, according to Giraldo et al. (2016).
- Iridescent_type: Iridescent type of the tested individual, either Full_blue, Blue-banded, or None depending on the type of iridescent coverage of the wings.
- Sex: Sex of the tested individual.
- Pass: Pass number of the individual, from 1 (first pass) to 3 (third pass).
- Spe: Currently valid scientific name for the Morpho species tested.
- Species: Full (genus + species) currently valid scientific name for the individual tested.
- Micro_habitat: Micro-habitat of the individual, either Canopy or Understory.
- Hot_KO: Hot knock-out time, in seconds.
- Hot_recovery: Hot knock-out recovery time, in seconds.
- Cold_recovery: Cold knock-out recovery time, in seconds.
-Captures: All the data relating to captured individuals
- ID: Number ID of the captured individual.
- Date: date at which the individual was captured.
- Time: time at which the individual was captured.
- Location: location at which the individual was captured.
- Species: Currently valid scientific name for the Morpho species captured.
- Sex: Sex of the captured individual.
- Death: Recorded death date of the individual.
- Micro_habitat: Micro-habitat of the individual, either Canopy or Understory.
- Sunrise: Sunrise time at the capture location.
- Minute_after_sunrise: time (in minutes) at which the capture was made, depending on the sunrise time.
-Wing_coloration: Wing coloration data, as well as body size and wing area
- ID: Number ID of the captured individual.
- Spe: Currently valid scientific name for the Morpho species captured.
- Species: Full (genus + species) currently valid scientific name for the individual tested.
- Scale_type: Scale type of the tested individual, according to Giraldo et al. (2016).
- Iridescent_type: Iridescent type of the tested individual, either Full_blue, Blue-banded, or None depending on the type of iridescent coverage of the wings.
- Area_cm2: Measured area of the wing (in cm²), with the format Area_cm2_XX_Y. The XX part refers to which of the four wing part: AG, AD, PD, and PG for anterior left, anterior right, posterior right and posterior left, respectively. The Y part refers to either the dorsal side (D), or ventral side (V).
- Black, Blue, Brown, White, Orange: Measured area of each color of each wing, on the dorsal side. The nomenclature is the same as above for Area_cm2.
- Red, Brown, White, Light_brown, Dark_brown: Measured area of each color of each wing, on the ventral side. The nomenclature is the same as above for Area_cm2.**
- KO_seconde: Hot knock-out time, in seconds.
- Recov_seconde: Hot knock-out recovery time, in seconds.
- Body_lenght: Measured dried body length, in centimeters.
- Total_wing_area: Total wing area in cm².
- Body_wing_ratio: Ratio between the Total_wing_area and the Body_lenght.
- Micro_habitat: Micro-habitat of the individual, either Canopy or Understory.
- Proxi_Black, Proxi_White, Proxi_Blue: Measured area of each color on the proximal area of the dorsal side of the wings.
Missing data codes: Blank cells and NAs
Code/software
R is required to run FiguresTablesCode.R; the script was created using version 4.4.0.
Used packages: multcomp, dplyr, ggplot2, readxl, stats, ggsignif, tidyr, phytools, phylobase, phyr, rr2, agricolae, broom, interactions, tidyverse, picante, betapart, FD, ggpubr