scholarly journals No general relationship between mass and temperature in endothermic species

eLife ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Riemer ◽  
Robert P Guralnick ◽  
Ethan P White
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Bergmann’S Rule ◽  
Bergmann's Rule ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Data Intensive ◽  
Multiple Processes ◽  
Intensive Approach ◽  
Individual Mass

Bergmann's rule is a widely-accepted biogeographic rule stating that individuals within a species are smaller in warmer environments. While there are many single-species studies and integrative reviews documenting this pattern, a data-intensive approach has not been used yet to determine the generality of this pattern. We assessed the strength and direction of the intraspecific relationship between temperature and individual mass for 952 bird and mammal species. For eighty-seven percent of species, temperature explained less than 10% of variation in mass, and for 79% of species the correlation was not statistically significant. These results suggest that Bergmann's rule is not general and temperature is not a dominant driver of biogeographic variation in mass. Further understanding of size variation will require integrating multiple processes that influence size. The lack of dominant temperature forcing weakens the justification for the hypothesis that global warming could result in widespread decreases in body size.

scholarly journals No general relationship between mass and temperature in endothermic species

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Riemer ◽  
Robert P Guralnick ◽  
Ethan White
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Bergmann’S Rule ◽  
Bergmann's Rule ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Data Intensive ◽  
Multiple Processes ◽  
Intensive Approach ◽  
Individual Mass

Bergmann’s rule is a widely-accepted biogeographic rule stating that individuals within a species are smaller in warmer environments. While there are many single-species studies and integrative reviews documenting this pattern, a data-intensive approach has not been used yet to determine the generality of this pattern. We assessed the strength and direction of the intraspecific relationship between temperature and individual mass for 952 bird and mammal species. For eighty-seven percent of species, temperature explained less than 10% of variation in mass, and for 79% of species the correlation was not statistically significant. These results suggest that Bergmann’s rule is not general and temperature is not a dominant driver of biogeographic variation in mass. Further understanding of size variation will require integrating multiple processes that influence size. The lack of dominant temperature forcing weakens the justification for the hypothesis that global warming could result in widespread decreases in body size.

Glacial/Interglacial Size Variation in Fossil Spotted Hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) from Britain

1989 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard G. Klein ◽  
Katharine Scott
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Temperature Variation ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Crocuta Crocuta ◽  
Bergmann’S Rule ◽  
Spotted Hyena ◽  
Bergmann's Rule ◽  
Spotted Hyenas ◽  
The Relationship

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.

Dichroplus vittatus(Orthoptera: Acrididae) follows the converse to Bergmann's rule although male morphological variability increases with latitude

2007 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.J. Bidau ◽  
D.A. Martí
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Morphological Variability ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Bergmann’S Rule ◽  
Mean Annual Precipitation ◽  
Mean Annual Temperature ◽  
South American ◽  
Bergmann's Rule ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Positive Correlations

AbstractGeographic body size variation was analysed in males and females of 19 populations of the South American grasshopperDichroplus vittatusBruner spanning 20 degrees of latitude and 2700 m of altitude. Using mean and maximum body length of each sex and factors obtained from principal components analyses of six morphometric linear characters it was shown thatD. vittatusfollowed the converse to Bergmann's rule latitudinally but not altitudinally where no significant trends were observed. For males, variability of body size increased with latitude but not with altitude. Both types of trends were significantly correlated with mean annual temperature and minimum annual temperature (positive correlations), and two estimators of seasonality, the coefficients of variation of mean annual temperature (negative) and mean annual precipitation (positive). Some allometric relationships also showed geographic variation. It is suggested that the observed decrease in size with latitude together with the increase in morphological variability is a consequence of a number of factors: the shortening of the growing season southwards; the increasing seasonality and climatic unpredictability; and the fact that the species exhibits protandry which contributes to smaller and more variable size in males and smaller but more constant body size in females.

scholarly journals Global warming and Bergmann’s rule: do central European passerines adjust their body size to rising temperatures?

Oecologia ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 162 (1) ◽  
pp. 247-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Volker Salewski ◽  
Wesley M. Hochachka ◽  
Wolfgang Fiedler
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Bergmann’S Rule ◽  
Bergmann's Rule ◽  
Central European

scholarly journals Patterns of size variation in bees at a continental scale: does Bergmann's rule apply?

Oikos ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 127 (8) ◽  
pp. 1095-1103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxence Gérard ◽  
Maryse Vanderplanck ◽  
Markus Franzen ◽  
Michael Kuhlmann ◽  
Simon G. Potts ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Size Variation ◽  
Bergmann’S Rule ◽  
Bergmann's Rule ◽  
Continental Scale
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