Synthesizing evidence to beat the heat: a guideline for thermal tolerance reporting

Despite widespread popularity throughout the last century, thermal tolerance methods lack a standardized reporting format. A standardized reporting format streamlines the compilation, synthesis, and analysis of physiological measures of thermal tolerance across the literature, enabling large-scale analyses. These analyses are increasingly valuable in the context of accelerating global warming, as they provide the statistical power to address questions on the determinants and implications of thermal tolerance at scale. We fill this gap by providing a brief history of methods used to determine thermal tolerance, describing variables pertinent to each method, and proposing a reporting format for variables associated with each method. • Thermal tolerance research employs a variety of established methods • Methodological heterogeneity hinders synthesis efforts • A standardized reporting format increases reusability of data for synthesis research and use of novel automated tools