Plastic shifts in thermal preference and thermoregulation strategy across ontogeny in an invasive fly

#### Publication title: Plastic shifts in thermal preference and thermoregulation strategy across ontogeny in an invasive fly #### Publication authors: Author1, Author2, Author3 #### Code author: Anonymous #### Last Update: April 2026 This repository houses the code (TpSuz_code.R) and data sets that were used for the article ‘Plastic shifts in thermal preference and thermoregulation strategy across ontogeny in an invasive fly’. ABSTRACT Behavioural thermoregulation allows ectotherms to escape extreme or seek optimal temperatures. Its precision can impact survival and fitness under changing conditions and its plasticity can be an adaptive strategy when the plasticity of thermal limits is insufficient to buffer against warming. We explore the developmental and intergenerational plasticity of behavioural thermoregulation strategies using the invasive fly Drosophila suzukii, including Wolbachia-infected individuals. We measured the plasticity of its thermal preference (Tp) and used its mean (thermal need) and variance (thermoregulation precision) to assess thermoregulation strategies. Typically, mean Tp increased with developmental temperature as well as the precision in temperature selection. Tp differed between life stages (higher in larvae and females than in males), reflecting different thermal needs. Wolbachia infection was associated with a reduction of Tp in adults but an increase in larvae, associated with a shift of the thermoregulation strategy with higher precision at intermediate Tp. Modulation of Tp may represent a mechanism for coping with changing or novel environmental conditions, opening new perspectives as to whether plasticity in Tp is adaptive under natural conditions, whether such plasticity facilitates colonisation or persistence during range expansion, and whether Tp plasticity itself evolves during range expansion. R session info: - R version 2026.01.1+403 - Platform: x86_64-apple-darwin17.0 (64-bit) - Running under: macOS 26.3.1 Metadata for the data files are supplied below: #data folder Contains .csv files with raw data for larvae (TP_LARVES_GX.csv) and adults (TP_M_GX.csv) of Drosophila suzukii with X is number corresponding to the generation. Columns of the files: - ID: Unique ID of the larvae or adults - Ramp: Lane of the thermal gradient in which the measurement was done - Date: Date of the measurement - E_temp: Temperature treatment (developmental temperature) - 16, 20, 24, 16–24 or 18–22 °C - Age: Life stage of the individual - L3, J3, J13 - Wol: Infection status - Wolbachia infected (W+) or uninfected (W–) - Sex: Sex of the individual - None = larvae, F = female, M = male - Dist: Position in the lane of the thermal gradient, in cm, measured from the left end - Tp: Thermal preference - calculated with a specific equation for each lane of the thermal gradient - Gradient: Gradient used to measure the Tp - D or G - Repro: Reproductive status of the individuals - Female_V, Female_F, Male data folder also contains .png images that are used in the figures #outcome folder Contains .png images corresponding to the figures of the article. For any inquiries or bugs, please contact corresponding author (added later)