Functional adaptation rather than ecogeographical rules determine body-size metrics along a thermal cline with elevation in the Chinese pygmy dormouse (Typhlomys cinereus)

Cui, Jifa; Lei, Boyu; Newman, Chris; Ji, Shengnan; Su, Huawei; Buesching, Christina D.; Macdonald, David W.; Zhou, Youbing

doi:10.1016/j.jtherbio.2020.102510

Cited by 12 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Similarly, within animals that adhere to Allen's rule, we would expect shapeshifting to occur only in the specific appendages that conform to Allen's rule. For example, only ear size adhered to Allen's rule in the Chinese pygmy dormouse [73], and only tails and ears, but not legs, adhered to Allen's rule in North American hares [26], so we would expect ears to be undergoing shape-shifting in these species, and perhaps in mammals more broadly. In birds, there is evidence that bill size conforms more strongly to Allen's rule than leg size [20], which may mean changes in response to climatic warming will be more pronounced in bills than in legs.…”

Section: Biological Responses To Environmental Changes Via Introduction Eventsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Shape-shifting: changing animal morphologies as a response to climatic warming

Ryding

Klaassen

Tattersall

et al. 2021

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

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Section: Biological Responses To Environmental Changes Via Introduction Eventsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Shape-shifting: changing animal morphologies as a response to climatic warming

Ryding

Klaassen

Tattersall

et al. 2021

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

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“…Ear and hindfoot length did not follow this rule, since the former remained constant, and the latter increased with elevation (although differences were found among mountains). Allen's rule has previously been supported for relative tail length in Xeric Four-striped Grass Rat (Rhabdomys pumilio) across elevation; and Virginia opossums (Didelphis virginiana), Herb Field mice (Apodemus uralensis), and Long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) across latitude; but not for South African Mouse shrews (Myosorex varius) or Soft-furred Tree mice (Typhlomys cinereus) across elevation, or fossorial Southern African Pouched mice (Saccostomus campestris) across latitude [3,7,26,[62][63][64]. Interestingly, tail length seems to exhibit a stronger relationship than ear or hindfoot length with elevation [3] and latitude [65,66].…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 94%

“…Although these rules were initially developed based on patterns across latitudinal gradients, they were later extensively tested across elevational gradients (e.g., [3][4][5][6][7]). Elevational gradients share certain properties with latitudinal gradients, including the key change in temperature [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Challenging ecogeographical rules: Phenotypic variation in the Mountain Treeshrew (Tupaia montana) along tropical elevational gradients

Hinckley

Sánchez-Donoso²,

Comas³

et al. 2022

PLoS ONE

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Bergmann’s and Allen’s rules were defined to describe macroecological patterns across latitudinal gradients. Bergmann observed a positive association between body size and latitude for endothermic species while Allen described shorter appendages as latitude increases. Almost two centuries later, there is still ongoing discussion about these patterns. Temperature, the common variable in these two rules, varies predictably across both latitude and elevation. Although these rules have been assessed extensively in mammals across latitude, particularly in regions with strong seasonality, studies on tropical montane mammals are scarce. We here test for these patterns and assess the variation of several other locomotory, diet-associated, body condition, and thermoregulatory traits across elevation in the Mountain Treeshrew (Tupaia montana) on tropical mountains in Borneo. Based on morphological measurements from both the field and scientific collections, we found a complex pattern: Bergmann’s rule was not supported in our tropical mountain system, since skull length, body size, and weight decreased from the lowest elevations (<1000 m) to middle elevations (2000–2500 m), and then increased from middle elevations to highest elevations. Allen’s rule was supported for relative tail length, which decreased with elevation, but not for ear and hindfoot length, with the former remaining constant and the latter increasing with elevation. This evidence together with changes in presumed diet-related traits (rostrum length, zygomatic breadth and upper tooth row length) along elevation suggest that selective pressures other than temperature, are playing a more important role shaping the morphological variation across the distribution of the Mountain Treeshrew. Diet, food acquisition, predation pressure, and/or intra- and inter-specific competition, are some of the potential factors driving the phenotypic variation of this study system. The lack of variation in body condition might suggest local adaptation of this species across its elevational range, perhaps due to generalist foraging strategies. Finally, a highly significant temporal effect was detected in several traits but not in others, representing the first phenotypic variation temporal trends described on treeshrews.

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“…These two elements of adaptation to climate may both be selected to change in a complementary manner. Alternatively, or one or other may be selected for in a compromise due to evolutionary or physical constraints, as in addition to thermoregulation, the phenotype has to meet functional requirements, such as foraging or metabolic efficiency 23 , 24 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Allometry reveals trade-offs between Bergmann’s and Allen’s rules, and different avian adaptive strategies for thermoregulation

et al. 2023

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Animals tend to decrease in body size (Bergmann’s rule) and elongate appendages (Allen’s rule) in warm climates. However, it is unknown whether these patterns depend on each other or constitute independent responses to the thermal environment. Here, based on a global phylogenetic comparative analysis across 99.7% of the world’s bird species, we show that the way in which the relative length of unfeathered appendages co-varies with temperature depends on body size and vice versa. First, the larger the body, the greater the increase in beak length with temperature. Second, the temperature-based increase in tarsus length is apparent only in larger birds, whereas in smaller birds, tarsus length decreases with temperature. Third, body size and the length of beak and tarsus interact with each other to predict the species’ environmental temperature. These findings suggest that the animals’ body size and shape are products of an evolutionary compromise that reflects distinct alternative thermoregulatory adaptations.

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Functional adaptation rather than ecogeographical rules determine body-size metrics along a thermal cline with elevation in the Chinese pygmy dormouse (Typhlomys cinereus)

Cited by 12 publications

References 60 publications

Shape-shifting: changing animal morphologies as a response to climatic warming

Shape-shifting: changing animal morphologies as a response to climatic warming

Challenging ecogeographical rules: Phenotypic variation in the Mountain Treeshrew (Tupaia montana) along tropical elevational gradients

Allometry reveals trade-offs between Bergmann’s and Allen’s rules, and different avian adaptive strategies for thermoregulation

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