Data from: Decreases in beetle body size linked to climate change and warming temperatures

1. Body size is a fundamental ecological trait and is correlated with population dynamics, community structure and function, and ecosystem fluxes. Laboratory data from broad taxonomic groups suggest that a widespread response to a warming world may be an overall decrease in organism body size. However, given the myriad of biotic and abiotic factors that can also influence organism body size in the wild, it is unclear whether results from these laboratory assays hold in nature. 2. Here we use data sets spanning 30 to 100 years to examine whether the body size of wild-caught beetles has changed over time, whether body size changes are correlated with increased temperatures, and we frame these results using predictions derived from a quantitative review of laboratory responses of 22 beetle species to temperature. 3. We found that 95% of lab-reared beetles decreased in size with increased rearing temperature, with larger-bodied species shrinking disproportionately more than smaller-bodied beetles. In addition, the museum data sets revealed that larger-bodied beetle species have decreased in size over time, that mean beetle body size explains much of the interspecific variation in beetle responses to temperature, and that long-term beetle size changes are explained by increases in autumn temperature and decreases in spring temperature in this region. 4. Our data demonstrate that the relationship between body size and temperature of wild-caught beetles matches relatively well with results from laboratory studies, and that variation in this relationship is largely explained by interspecific variation in mean beetle body size. 5. This long-term beetle dataset is one of the most comprehensive arthropod body size datasets compiled to date, it improves predictions regarding the shrinking of organisms with global climate change, and together with the meta-analysis data, call for new hypotheses to explain why larger-bodied organisms may be more sensitive to temperature.1. 体型是一项基础生态性状（fundamental ecological trait），与种群动态（population dynamics）、群落结构与功能（community structure and function）以及生态系统通量（ecosystem fluxes）密切相关。来自多个宽泛分类群（taxonomic groups）的实验室数据表明，在气候变暖的背景下，生物体普遍可能呈现出体型整体缩小的响应。然而，野外环境中还存在诸多可影响生物体体型的生物与非生物因子（biotic and abiotic factors），因此尚不清楚这些实验室实验（laboratory assays）的结果能否在自然情境中成立。 2. 本研究采用跨度30至100年的数据集，探究野外捕获甲虫（wild-caught beetles）的体型是否随时间发生改变，以及体型变化是否与温度升高存在关联；并基于针对22种甲虫温度响应的实验室数据定量综述（quantitative review）推导得到的预测框架，对本研究结果进行阐释。 3. 研究发现，95%的实验室饲养甲虫（lab-reared beetles）在饲养温度升高时体型出现缩小，且大体型物种相较于小体型甲虫，体型缩小的幅度更为显著。此外，馆藏标本数据集显示，该区域内大体型甲虫物种的体型随时间推移出现缩小；甲虫平均体型可解释大部分甲虫对温度响应的种间变异（interspecific variation），而甲虫体型的长期变化可归因于该区域秋季温度升高与春季温度降低。 4. 本研究数据表明，野外捕获甲虫的体型与温度之间的关联与实验室研究结果较为吻合，且该关联的变异程度在很大程度上可由甲虫平均体型的种间变异来解释。 5. 该长期甲虫数据集是目前已汇编的最为全面的节肢动物（Arthropod）体型数据集之一，其提升了关于全球气候变化下生物体体型缩小的预测精度；结合元分析（Meta-analysis）数据，本研究为解释大体型生物体为何对温度更为敏感这一问题，催生了新的研究假说。