Melanistic coloration does not influence thermoregulation in the crepuscular gecko Eublepharis macularius

# Melanistic coloration does not influence thermoregulation in the crepuscular gecko Eublepharis macularius The datasets described here are a combination of temperature measurements collected from both iButton sensors and FLIR thermal imaging, visible color values from multispectral photography, and physical characteristics (body length, mass, etc.). ## Software used: * R v4.2.1 for statistical analysis, with required packages loaded at the top of the included *final\_gecko\_script.R* ## Description of data files: ### FinalGeckoData.csv Describes measurements collected from each individual during the experiments. All temperature measurements are in degrees Celsius. Luminance (the measure of light intensity per pixel) is represented as a pixel value ranging from 0-255, with 0 being the darkest and 255 being the lightest. Empty cells are due to missing data in data collection at that time period (specifically the body temp, substrate, and atmospheric measurements). Warm/cold/hide before and after measurements will always have an empty value corresponding to the beginning and end of each experiment, respectively. Individual EMM001 at time 4 has an empty value for Dark spot luminance because the clustering algorithm did not detect melanistic coloration in that image. Variables are described as follows: * **ID**: The unique identification number assigned to each individual tested. * **Average melanistic proportion**: the average amount of melanistic proportion for each individual, calculated as the mean of Dark proportion. * **Date tested**: The date on which individuals were tested. Ex. 802 = August, 02 * **Time**: The timepoint at which measurements were taken. 1 corresponds to the first measurements taken at the start of each experiment. * **Light spot luminance**: The average luminance pixel value calculated from the non-melanistic coloration of an individual. * **Dark spot luminance**: The average luminance pixel value calculated from the melanistic coloration of an individual. * **Light Proportion**: The proportion of non-melanistic coloration relative to the dorsal area of the entire individual. * **Dark Proportion**: The proportion of non-melanistic coloration relative to the dorsal area of the entire individual. * **Warm side**: The temperature reading from the iButton placed over the heating pad at the time of capturing images. * **Warm 5 min before**: The temperature reading from the iButton placed over the heating pad 5 minutes before capturing images. * **Warm 5 min after**: The temperature reading from the iButton placed over the heating pad 5 minutes after capturing images. * **Cold side**: The temperature reading from the iButton placed at the far end of the terrarium away from the heating pad at the time of capturing images. * **Cold 5 min before**: The temperature reading from the iButton placed at the far end of the terrarium away from the heating pad 5 minutes before capturing images. * **Cold 5 min after**: The temperature reading from the iButton placed at the far end of the terrarium away from the heating pad 5 minutes after capturing images. * **Hide**: The temperature reading from the iButton placed underneath of the hide at the time of capturing images. * **Hide 5 min before**: The temperature reading from the iButton placed underneath of the hide 5 minutes before capturing images. * **Hide 5 min after**: The temperature reading from the iButton placed underneath of the hide 5 minutes after capturing images. * **Body temp**: The body temperature of the individual at the time of image capture, calculated via the average eye temperature obtained from thermal imaging. * **Substrate**: The substrate temperature of the terrarium flooring obtained from thermal imaging. * **Atmospheric**: The temperature reading from the iButton placed next to the terrarium at the time of capturing images. ### GeckoInfo.csv Describes measurements collected from each individual before testing. Variables are described as follows: * **ID**: The unique identification number assigned to each individual tested. * **Sex**: The sex of the individual. * **Average melanistic proportion**: the average amount of melanistic proportion for each individual, taken from the previous data file. * **Mass**: the mass in grams of an individual, obtained via a digital balance used before the start of the experiment. * **SVL**: The Snout-vent-length of each individual, measured before the start of the experiment. \**average melanistic proportion* was included in GeckoInfo.csv for ease of use in the statistical code, but was calculated from images taken during the experiment.