An interspecific test of Bergmann's rule reveals inconsistent body size patterns across several lineages of water beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae)

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susana Pallarés ◽  
Michele Lai ◽  
Pedro Abellán ◽  
Ignacio Ribera ◽  
David Sánchez-Fernández
Paleobiology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 643-658
Author(s):  
John D. Orcutt ◽  
Samantha S. B. Hopkins

AbstractPaleecological data allow not only the study of trends along deep-time chronological transects but can also be used to reconstruct ecological gradients through time, which can help identify causal factors that may be strongly correlated in modern ecosystems. We have applied such an analysis to Bergmann’s rule, which posits a causal relationship between temperature and body size in mammals. Bergmann’s rule predicts that latitudinal gradients should exist during any interval of time, with larger taxa toward the poles and smaller taxa toward the equator. It also predicts that the strength of these gradients should vary with time, becoming weaker during warmer periods and stronger during colder conditions. We tested these predictions by reconstructing body-mass trends within canid and equid genera at different intervals of the Oligo-Miocene along the West Coast of North America. To allow for comparisons with modern taxa, body mass was reconstructed along the same transect for modernCanisandOdocoileus. Of the 17 fossil genera analyzed, only two showed the expected positive relationship with latitude, nor was there consistent evidence for a relationship between paleotemperature and body mass. Likewise, the strength of body-size gradients does not change predictably with climate through time. The evidence for clear gradients is ambiguous even in the modern genera analyzed. These results suggest that, counter to Bergmann’s rule, temperature alone is not a primary driver of body size and underscore the importance of regional-scale paleoecological analyses in identifying such drivers.


2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1147-1154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linas Balčiauskas ◽  
Laima Balčiauskienė ◽  
Uudo Timm

AbstractThe body size of Palearctic Sorex shrews decreases at higher latitudes, and as such the Bergmann’s rule does not work. However, no analysis has ever been done for water shrew (Neomys fodiens) in the middle of distribution range. Analysis of available literature data showed that some body and skull measurements of N. fodiens are negatively correlated to latitude. Measurements of 158 water shrews from Estonia and Lithuania were also analyzed with respect to the short scale latitudinal pattern. We found that populations are separated (Wilk’s lambda = 0.363, p<0.0001). Differences are related to PC1 (skull size), explaining 49.80% of the variance and PC2 (body size), explaining 10.06% of the variance. Estonian shrews are smaller in their body and skull (most differences significant) and their skulls are relatively shorter and wider in the area of the brain case. Thus, the negative correlation of body and skull size to latitude in N. fodiens is applicable even over quite short latitudinal distances. Further analysis of diagnostic characters between N. fodiens and N. anomalus is required.


2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 421-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Blanchet ◽  
Gael Grenouillet ◽  
Olivier Beauchard ◽  
Pablo A. Tedesco ◽  
Fabien Leprieur ◽  
...  

1989 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard G. Klein ◽  
Katharine Scott

AbstractThe lower carnassial lengths of spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) in 12 late Pleistocene samples from Britain indicate that, on average, local hyenas of the last (Devensian) glaciation were significantly larger than their last-interglaciation (Ipswichian) counterparts. Together with the tendency for spotted hyena carnassial length to increase with latitude in present-day Africa, this suggests that spotted hyena body size is inversely related to temperature, as predicted by Bergmann's rule. The implication is that spotted hyena carnassial length can be used as an independent gauge of Pleistocene temperature variation, though the combined African and British data imply that the relationship between carnassial length and temperature is curvilinear, such that as temperature declines, equal amounts of further decline produce progressively smaller increases in average carnassial length.


2018 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiao Liu ◽  
Hao Feng ◽  
Long Jin ◽  
Zhi Ping Mi ◽  
Zhao Min Zhou ◽  
...  

AbstractBergmann’s rule states that within a species of endotherms smaller individuals are found in warmer conditions, which is consistent for nearly all endotherms, while in ectotherms body size patterns are less consistent. As ectothermic vertebrates, the morphology of amphibians is likely impacted by climatic conditions. Here, we examined latitudinal variation in body size in the ranid frog,Fejervarya limnocharis, based on literature and our own data on mean body size of 3637 individuals from 50 populations and average age of 2873 individuals from 40 populations in China. The results showed that body size was positively correlated with environmental temperature, but not with precipitation. Body size was negatively correlated with latitude among populations in this species, which supported the inverse of Bergmann’s rule. Our findings suggest that a larger body size in low-latitude populations is associated with a longer growing season related to the higher environmental temperature.


1999 ◽  
Vol 77 (5) ◽  
pp. 802-813 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D Wigginton ◽  
F Stephen Dobson

Hypotheses that explain geographic variation in body size were examined using cranial measurements of 950 bobcats (Lynx rufus) from western North America. Bobcats were divided into 25 geographic localities of similar habitats and landform (based on ecoregions). Principal component analyses were used to derive a single estimate of size from scores on the first principal component. Males and females were examined separately, because they were significantly dimorphic in body size and because sex and locality exhibited a significant interaction. We expected that female body size would best reflect environmental influences, because male size may be influenced by sexual selection. We found significant geographic variation in bobcat body size, with about 44% of the variation in males and 47% of the variation in females accounted for by comparison among the localities. We also found that variation in body size was associated with Bergmann's rule, as indicated by significant multiple regression of body size of males (R2 = 0.426) and females (R2 = 0.480) on latitude and elevation. Using correlation and regression analyses, we examined the association of body size with selected environmental variables that represent the classical physiological explanation of Bergmann's rule, James' moisture-humidity modification of Bergmann's rule, Rosenzweig's productivity hypothesis, and Boyce's seasonality hypothesis. Only the productivity hypothesis was not supported. The relative strengths of associations suggested, however, that James' modification was better supported than the classical explanation for Bergmann's rule. Path analyses permitted further discrimination of hypotheses, and only the seasonality hypothesis received significant support. As expected, this support was only evident for females. Path analysis may provide a tool for evaluating relative strengths of competing but correlated explanations of geographic variation.


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