DOI: 10.5061/dryad.q573n5twk

Description of the data and file structure

This is data from a lab study in a host-parasite system where the treehole mosquito Aedes sierrensis undergoes an ontogenetic shift from a vulnerable host to a predator of its parasite, Lambornella clarki. In microcosm experiment 1, we manipulated the mosquito larval stage (first vs. fourth instar) at parasite introduction across a 6–14°C temperature gradient, mimicking variation in arrival order and temperature that might occur in their native habitats. Microcosms were monitored daily for the first week and biweekly thereafter. We recorded (a) the density of free-living Lambornella (counted in 100 µl samples under 40x magnification); (b) the number of larvae with parasitic cysts attached to their cuticle; (c) the number of infected larvae (with parasites inside the cuticle); (d) the intensity of these infections (the number of infectious cells inside the cuticle); and (e) larval mortality. In experiment 2, we placed a single larva in a well of a Falcon plate containing 2 ml of Lambornella culture and 1 ml of treehole water. We repeated this for all 4 larval instars and checked each well at 3, 6, 12, 24, and 48 hours post-exposure for evidence of feeding (i.e., reduction in Lambornella cell density).

Files and variables

File: Temp_priority_effects_analysis.R

Description: Code to produce the data cleaning steps, statistical models analyzing the outcome variables from microcosm experiments 1 and 2, and figures visualizing these results.

File: pilot_plots.R

Description: Code to generate Supplementary Figure S1 from the dose-response pilot experiment and Supplementary Figure S4 from the first-instar stage-structure pilot experiment at 10C.

File: Temp_priority_effects_data1.csv

Description: Data from microcosms held at one of five constant temperatures. At each temperature, all microcosms were inoculated with Lambornella and assigned to one of three treatment groups (n = 10 replicates per treatment): (1) introduction of first-instar larvae; (2) introduction of fourth-instar larvae; or (3) a no-larvae control with mosquito-conditioned water. Each replicate included five mosquito larvae (where applicable) and was held in one of two incubators per temperature (replicates 1–6 in one set of incubators; 7–10 in another set of incubators).

Variables

• treatment: first-instar larvae, fourth instar larvae, or no-larvae control
• temperature: rearing temperature (6, 8, 10, 12, or 14°C)
• replicate: 1 through 10 indicating the replicate number
• tray: number for the Falcon plate within incubator
• day: day of the experiment from 1 to 56
• freeliving: a count of freeliving parasites per 100ul
• larvae_with_cysts: the number of larvae out of 4 with cysts
• total_cysts: total number of cysts observed across the 5 larvae
• larvae_infected: number of larvae infected at that time point out of the 5 larvae
• cumulative_infected: number of larvae infected out of 5 including those infected at a previous time point
• cells1: number of infective cells inside the first larvae (or NA if none are infected)
• cells2: number of infective cells inside the second larvae (or NA if none are infected)
• cells3: number of infective cells inside the third larvae (or NA if none are infected)
• cells4: number of infective cells inside the fourth larvae (or NA if none are infected)
• cells5: number of infective cells inside the fifth larvae (or NA if none are infected)
• dead: number of larvae newly dead at that time point
• cumulative_dead: number of larvae dead out of 5 including those that died at a previous time point
• total_cells: sum of cells1 through cells5
• Temp_Treat_Replicate: combination of the temperature, treatment, and replicate columns

File: pilot_plots_dose_response.csv

Description: Dose-response pilot data of infections as a result of varying concentrations of Lambornella.

Variables

• Dose: dose of Lambornella cells in number per mL
• Rep: replicate number
• week: week of the experiment
• total_cysts: total number of cysts observed
• num_infected: number of larvae infected
• cysts_per_larva: number of cysts per larva
• perc_infected: fraction of larvae infected

File: pilot_plots_stage_structure.csv

Description: Pilot stage-structure data for the first-instar treatment, used to generate Supplementary Figure S4.

Variables

• treatment: first-instar treatment
• replicate: 1 through 10 indicating the replicate number
• day: day of the experiment
• instar1: number of first-instar larvae
• instar2: number of second-instar larvae
• instar3: number of third-instar larvae
• instar4: number of fourth-instar larvae

Code/software

R version 4.1.1 was used for the original analysis. Figure-regeneration scripts were rerun with R version 4.5.2.

The packages: tidyverse 2.0.0, ggplot2 4.0.2, viridis 0.6.5, survival 3.8.3, and patchwork 1.3.2. The full analysis script also uses lme4, car, glmmTMB, and DHARMa, but those package versions were not recorded in this repository.

Access information

Data was generated by the author.