Mallett, Sophie L.Leahy, LilyVaughan, Ian P.Klaftenberger, TristanCerda, XimWheatley, Lucy J.Leyshon, KesterKing, ShaneDawson, WillHarrendence, KelseyWilker, IcaroBishop, Tom R.2025-08-072025-08-072025-04Mallett, S.L., Leahy, L., Vaughan, I.P. et al. 2025, 'Automating thermal limits: continuous, objective, and high-throughput thermal data for small mobile ectotherms', Journal of Thermal Biology, vol. 129, art. 104127, pp. 1-13, doi : 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2025.104127.0306-4565 (print)1879-0992 (online)10.1016/j.jtherbio.2025.104127http://hdl.handle.net/2263/103816DATA ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENT : All data are available from https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.27846969. All code are available from https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.28668341.HIGHLIGHTS • Small ectotherms and ecosystems they support are threatened by climate change. • Current dry bath methods to record thermal data focus only on thermal extremes. • We compare thermal data on ants from dry baths and a locomotor activity monitor. • The LAM reliably predicts upper thermal limits but not lower. • The LAM generates continuous, objective, and higher-throughput thermal data.en© 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Small ectothermsEcosystemsClimate changeThermal dataAntsDry bathsLocomotor activity monitor (LAM)Article