Data from: Temperature-size rule is mediated by thermal plasticity of critical size in Drosophila melanogaster

Most ectotherms show an inverse relationship between developmental temperature and body size, a phenomenon known as the temperature size rule (TSR). Several competing hypotheses have been proposed to explain its occurrence. According to one set of views, the TSR results from inevitable biophysical effects of temperature on the rates of growth and differentiation, whereas other views suggest the TSR is an adaptation that can be achieved by a diversity of mechanisms in different taxa. Our data reveal that the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, obeys the TSR using a novel mechanism: reduction of critical size at higher temperatures. In holometabolous insects, attainment of critical size initiates the hormonal cascade that terminates growth, and hence, Drosophila larvae appear to instigate the signal to stop growth at a smaller size at higher temperatures. This is in contrast to findings from another holometabolous insect, Manduca sexta, in which the TSR results from the effect of temperature on the rate and duration of growth. This contrast suggests that there is no single mechanism that accounts for the TSR. Instead, the TSR appears to be an adaptation that is achieved at a proximate level through different mechanisms in different taxa.Growth curve dataMetadata used for Figure 1, Figure 2 and supplementary Figure 1. # The variables in the file include temp = rearing temperature of flies age = hours from hatching stage = developmental stage weight = weight of individuals in mggrowth.curve.data.csvCritical size dataMetadata used for to calculate the critical size (Figure 2, Figure 3 & supplementary figure 1) Variables in the file include: temp = rearing temperature for the flies. larval = larval weight at starvation. pupariate = pupariation status. ttp = time to pupariation from starvation in hours. pupal = pupal weight. eclose = eclosion statuscsdata.csvCritical size breakpoint R scriptR script for calculating using the breakpoint method. The file includes scripts for finding the breakpoint in the plot of ttp vs. larval weight at starvation, bootstrapping data and permutation test.CS_breakpoint_R_script.pd