Dataset to accompany manuscript: Seasonal variation of behavioural thermoregulation in a fossorial salamander (Ambystoma maculatum)

However, we still have a limited understanding of how amphibians maintain thermal balance in the face of varying temperatures, especially in fossorial species. Due to thermal buffering underground, thermal ecology theory predicts relaxed selection pressure over thermoregulation in fossorial ectotherms.

As a result, fossorial ectotherms typically show low thermoregulatory precision and low evidence of thermotactic behaviours in laboratory thermal gradients. Here, we evaluated how temperature selection (Tsel) and associated behaviours differed between seasons in a fossorial amphibian, the Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum). By comparing thermoregulatory parameters between the active and overwintering seasons, we show that A. maculatum engages in active behavioural thermoregulation despite being fossorial.