Using calorimetry to measure metabolic heat in two dipteran species, Tetanops myopaeformis and Drosophila melanogaster, exposed to ecologically relevant low temperatures

This dataset contains the raw data (unsubstracted) and the machine normalized (subtracted) output files from calorimetry experiments measuring metabolic heat flow of the sugarbeet root maggot. Both isothermal and scanning calorimetry were employed in this project. The metabolism of the larvae was measured over an ecologically relevant temperature from 10 to -16°C. Quality control graphs are provided for each of the runs. The sugarbeet root maggots were examined with two different types of calorimeters, a model FDCS196 (Linkam Scientific, UK) and a model DSC7000X (Hitachi Global, Japan). The model FDCS196 calorimeter filmed the larvae during the runs, documenting the larvae’s ability to remain mobile down to temperatures just above their freezing point.

Despite their fundamentally different designs and algorithms, the two calorimeters gave congruent results. Both calorimeters unexpectedly revealed that the larvae’s metabolic heat flow increased as the temperature decreased. To confirm that our results were not due to equipment error or some misunderstanding on our part, we investigated a similar phenomenon in developing Drosophila melanogaster larvae on the model DSC7000X calorimeter. They gave the same result as the sugarbeet root maggots: increased metabolic heat flow at lower temperatures. This increase in heat flow occurs under both normoxic and anoxic conditions for both species.