Data from: Local climate determines intra- and interspecific variation in sexual size dimorphism in mountain grasshopper communities

The climate is often evoked to explain broad-scale clines of body size,
yet its involvement in the processes that generate size inequality in the
two sexes (sexual size dimorphism) remains elusive. Here, we analyse
climatic clines of sexual size dimorphism along a wide elevation gradient
(i) among grasshopper species in a phylogenetically controlled scenario
and (ii) within species differing in distribution and cold tolerance, to
highlight patterns generated at different time scales, mainly evolutionary
(among species or higher taxa) and ontogenetic or microevolutionary
(within species). At the interspecific level, grasshoppers were slightly
smaller and less dimorphic at high elevations. These clines were
associated with gradients of precipitation and sun exposure, which are
likely indicators of other factors that directly exert selective
pressures, such as resource availability and conditions for effective
thermoregulation. Within species, we found a positive effect of
temperature and a negative effect of elevation on body size, especially on
condition-dependent measures of body size (total body length rather than
hind femur length) and in species inhabiting the highest elevations. In
spite of a certain degree of species-specific variation, females tended to
adjust their body size more often than males, suggesting that body size in
females can evolve faster among species and can be more plastic or
dependent on nutritional conditions within species living in adverse
climates. Natural selection on female body size may therefore prevail over
sexual selection on male body size in alpine environments, and abiotic
factors may trigger consistent phenotypic patterns across taxonomic
scales.