Data from: The interactive effects of photoperiod and future climate change may have negative consequences for a wide-spread invasive insect

Increasing global temperatures may affect many ectotherms, including
insects, although increasing temperatures are thought to benefit future
populations through effects on adult size, fecundity, or populations.
However, the way that temperature may interact with photoperiod is not
well understood. We study this problem using the Asian tiger mosquito
Aedes albopictus, an important worldwide invasive whose future spread is
thought to be affected by changes in climate. We investigated how mass at
maturity varied with temperature (21°C, 25°C) across short and long
photoperiods, using laboratory populations from the extreme ends of this
species’ current US range (Florida, New Jersey). These values were used to
parametrize a model to predict optimal mass based on development times;
the results of a second laboratory experiment under the same treatments
were compared to model predictions. Warmer conditions shortened
development times in females from all locations leading to either higher
or lower mass depending on the photoperiod. We then used published
mass–fecundity relationships to determine the consequences of mass on
fecundity under our conditions. Under the majority of scenarios warming
decreased predicted fecundity under long photoperiods, but proved
beneficial under short photoperiods because the costs of fast development
were offset by increased survival in the face of late-season freezing
risk. However, fecundity was always low under short photoperiods, so the
marginal benefit of warming appears negligible given its cost under long
photoperiods when the majority of reproduction occurs. Thus, with northern
range expansion, where colder weather currently limits this species,
detrimental effects of warming on fecundity are likely, similar to those
identified for mass. Unlike previous work that has shown benefits of a
warming planet to insects like Aedes albopictus, our work predicts lower
performance under warming conditions in summer across the current range, a
prediction with implications for range expansion, disease dynamics and
populations.