Data from: Ontogenetic reduction in thermal tolerance is not alleviated by earlier developmental acclimation in Rana temporaria

Complex life-histories may promote the evolution of different strategies
to allow optimal matching to the environmental conditions that organisms
can encounter in contrasting environments. For ectothermic animals, we
need to disentangle the role of stage-specific thermal tolerances and
developmental acclimation to predict the effects of climate change on
spatial distributions. However, the interplay between these mechanisms has
been poorly explored. Here we study whether developmental larval
acclimation to rearing temperatures affects the thermal tolerance of
subsequent terrestrial stages (metamorphs and juveniles) in common frogs
(Rana temporaria). Our results show that larval acclimation to warm
temperatures enhances larval heat tolerance, but not thermal tolerance in
later metamorphic and juvenile stages, which does not support the
developmental acclimation hypothesis. Further, metamorphic and juvenile
individuals exhibit a decline in thermal tolerance, which would confer
higher sensitivity to extreme temperatures. Because thermal tolerance is
not enhanced by larval developmental acclimation, these ‘risky’ stages may
be forced to compensate through behavioural thermoregulation and
short-term acclimation to face eventual heat peaks in the coming decades.