Datasets of the manuscript by Ghedini & Marshall, titled "Metabolic evolution in response to interspecific competition in a eukaryote" (2023) Current Biology.

The zipfolder contains all data and code used for the analyses and to produce the figures of the paper. 

Summary of the work: We experimentally evolved a focal phytoplankton species (Dunaliella tertiolecta) in 3 environments: competition-free ("none"), with a population of conspecifics ("intra") or in the presence of a community of three other species ("inter") for 10 weeks (~70 generations). 

After 35 and 70 generations we used common garden experiements to determine the evolution of cell morphology (size and shape), metabolism (photosynthesis, respiration, net energy over 24 hours) and demography (max. pop. growth rate, carrying capacity in terms of cell numbers, max. pop. biomass). Finally we tested whether metabolic theory predicts the evolution of these demographic traits (i.e., the scaling of population parameters with cell size across the evolved lineages).

We started phase 1 (experimental evolution) with 20 lineages for each competition treatment but lost 13 lineages of the interspecific treatment because of contamination by one of the interspecific competitors in the first 6 weeks. To continue the experiment, we established an additional lineage from each of the remaining seven replicates (labelled as "B" in the data files) but lost another 4 for the same reason by the end of the experiment. Thus, the data collected during common garden tests are from 6 lineages evolved with interspecific competitors after 35 generations (the seventh lineage was found contaminated during the common garden and thus discarded), and 10 lineages after 70 generations (n = 20 for the competition-free and intraspecific treatment). Common gardens lasted 16 days and all lineages were phenotyped multiple times as populations grew (once per day for 12 and 13 days after 35 and 70 generations, respectively).

The datasets present the metabolic (photosynthesis, respiration), morphological (cell size and shape), and demographic data (population biovolume, cell abundance) of the focal population after 35 and 70 generations of experimental evolution alone, with intraspecific or interspecific competitors measured in common garden experiments.