Higher heat acclimation ability in a non-native versus a native dung beetle (Onthophagus spp.)

Invasive species may be more capable of adjusting to climate warming via phenotypic plasticity than native species since plasticity is thought to increase invasion success. Physiological plasticity via acclimation is one way in which organisms can adjust their thermal tolerance in response to temperature change, but few studies have addressed whether invasive species have greater thermal plasticity compared to native congeners. Here we investigated whether thermal plasticity via temperature acclimation varies between two Onthophagus dung beetle species, the non-native Onthophagus taurus and the native Onthophagus hecate, collected from both Florida and Tennessee, USA. We expected the non-native O. taurus to demonstrate greater plasticity than the native O. hecate; we also predicted that beetles from Florida would have reduced plasticity since their environment is less thermally variable. To examine thermal plasticity, we measured shifts in time until loss of function (i.e., leg mobility..., , , ## Thermal acclimation data for an introduced and a native dung beetle (*Onthophagus spp.*)

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sn02v6xc2](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sn02v6xc2)

### Description

File includes data used to examine whether thermal plasticity following temperature acclimation varies between two *Onthophagus* dung beetle species, the introduced *O. taurus* and the native *O. hecate*, collected from both Florida and Tennessee, USA.

The data file is associated with the following manuscript:

Mamantov, M.A., Sheldon, K.S. Higher heat acclimation ability in a non-native versus a native dung beetle (*Onthophagus *spp.). *Biol Invasions* **27**, 47 (2025). [https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-024-03511-2](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-024-03511-2)

### Corresponding author

Kimberly S. Sheldon

Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN 37996-1610 

[[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail])

### File list

Thermal-plasticity-data-Onthoph...