Body Size of Mammals on Islands: The Island Rule Reexamined

Lomolino, Mark V.

doi:10.1086/284343

Cited by 510 publications

(560 citation statements)

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“…Greater species richness of frogs on the mainland may also generate much greater competition thereby causing a lower carrying capacity on the mainland relative to the island. By their absence on the islands, thereby eliminating interspecific competition, ecological release may have allowed the frogs to both increase in abundance and size (LOMOLINO 1985, GREENBERG & DANNER 2013.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The island rule in the Brazilian frog Phyllodytes luteolus (Anura: Hylidae): incipient gigantism?

Mageski¹,

Ferreira²,

Jesus³

et al. 2015

Zoologia (Curitiba)

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The island rule in the Brazilian frog Phyllodytes luteolus (Anura: Hylidae): incipient gigantism?

Mageski¹,

Ferreira²,

Jesus³

et al. 2015

Zoologia (Curitiba)

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“…Results from specific hypothesis models and global models (with and without phylogeny). AIC c values are given for the best model for each hypothesis (1), plus the full model (2). Variables listed in bold reflect those with strong effects (95% CIs do not overlap zero), those in italics were included among the models with strong support (DAIC c 2) and those in plain text were not present in any models where DAIC i 2.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This phenomenon occurs with such frequency that Van Valen [1] deemed the pattern a 'rule of ecology'. The actual pattern is a complex, graded trend in which small mammals evolve larger size and vice versa [2,3]. However, this generalization may be an oversimplification of a weak overall pattern [3] where exceptions abound [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unravelling the determinants of insular body size shifts

et al. 2013

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The island rule, a pattern of size shifts on islands, is an oft-cited but little understood phenomenon of evolutionary biology. Here, we explore the evolutionary mechanisms behind the rule in 184 mammal species, testing climatic, ecological and phylogenetic hypotheses in a robust quantitative framework. Our findings confirm the importance of species' ecological traits in determining both the strength and the direction of body size changes on islands. Although the island rule pattern appears relatively weak overall, we find strongest support for models incorporating trait, climatic and geographical factors in a phylogenetic context, lending support to the idea that the island rule is a complex phenomenon driven by interacting intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms. Overall, we find that different clades may be evolutionarily predisposed to dwarfism or gigantism, but the magnitude of size changes depends more on adaptation to the novel island environment.

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“…Island colonisation by animal populations is often associated with dramatic shifts in body size (Darwin, 1845;Case, 1978;Lomolino, 1985;Meiri, 2007). The high incidence of body size divergence between island and mainland populations is a reflection of (1) the conditions (and hence, selective pressures) that often differ tremendously from those experienced by mainland conspecifics; (2) small initial population sizes that facilitate founder effects and rapid shifts in allele frequency; and (3) lack of gene flow with the source area that allows the isolated population to follow a unique evolutionary trajectory (Grant, 1999;Gavrilets and Vose, 2005;Losos and Ricklefs, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Island colonisation and the evolutionary rates of body size in insular neonate snakes

Aubret

2014

Heredity

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Island colonisation by animal populations is often associated with dramatic shifts in body size. However, little is known about the rates at which these evolutionary shifts occur, under what precise selective pressures and the putative role played by adaptive plasticity on driving such changes. Isolation time played a significant role in the evolution of body size in island Tiger snake populations, where adaptive phenotypic plasticity followed by genetic assimilation fine-tuned neonate body and head size (hence swallowing performance) to prey size. Here I show that in long isolated islands (46000 years old) and mainland populations, neonate body mass and snout-vent length are tightly correlated with the average prey body mass available at each site. Regression line equations were used to calculate body size values to match prey size in four recently isolated populations of Tiger snakes. Rates of evolution in body mass and snout-vent length, calculated for seven island snake populations, were significantly correlated with isolation time. Finally, rates of evolution in body mass per generation were significantly correlated with levels of plasticity in head growth rates. This study shows that body size evolution occurs at a faster pace in recently isolated populations and suggests that the level of adaptive plasticity for swallowing abilities may correlate with rates of body mass evolution. I hypothesise that, in the early stages of colonisation, adaptive plasticity and directional selection may combine and generate accelerated evolution towards an 'optimal' phenotype.

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Body Size of Mammals on Islands: The Island Rule Reexamined

Cited by 510 publications

References 0 publications

The island rule in the Brazilian frog Phyllodytes luteolus (Anura: Hylidae): incipient gigantism?

The island rule in the Brazilian frog Phyllodytes luteolus (Anura: Hylidae): incipient gigantism?

Unravelling the determinants of insular body size shifts

Island colonisation and the evolutionary rates of body size in insular neonate snakes

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