On the estimation of temperature-dependent development rate

Both temperature and the development rate of organisms are important drivers of biological processes. A number of studies have been carried out to determine the relationship between temperature and development rate. The purpose of this study is to discuss problems associated with a method that is routinely used in such studies. The method assumes that dead individuals have a development rate of zero, and the decision on which dead individuals to include in a study is subjective; some dead samples are included while others are discarded. Depending on this detail, variable results are obtained from the same study. In addition, empirically characterized models are often interpreted for temperature ranges that are not experimentally tested. Correctly interpreting models and designing appropriate experiments are essential for deriving biologically meaningful conclusions.