On the applicability of Bergmann’s rule to ectotherms: The state of the art

Vinarski, Maxim V.

doi:10.1134/s2079086414030098

Cited by 59 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 108 publications

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“…Riemer, Gurlanick, & White, ) and the interspecific (Blackburn & Hawkins, ; Olson et al, ; Torres‐Romero, Morales‐Castilla, & Olalla‐Tárraga, ) level. In contrast, decades of research conducted on a wide range of ectothermic organisms have uncovered mixed support for climate‐driven size clines at either the intraspecific (Adams & Church, ; Ashton & Feldman, ; Pincheira‐Donoso, ; Pincheira‐Donoso & Meiri, ; Zamora‐Camacho, Reguera, & Moreno‐Rueda, ) or the interspecific (Feldman & Meiri, ; Olalla‐Tárraga & Rodríguez, ; Olalla‐Tárraga, Rodríguez, & Hawkins, ; Pincheira‐Donoso, Hodgson, & Tregenza, ; Rodrigues, Olalla‐Tárraga, Iverson, & Diniz‐Filho, ; Slavenko & Meiri, ; Terribile, Olalla‐Tárraga, Diniz‐Filho, & Rodríguez, ; Vinarski, ) level.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global patterns of body size evolution in squamate reptiles are not driven by climate

Slavenko

Feldman

Allison

et al. 2019

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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Aim Variation in body size across animal species underlies most ecological and evolutionary processes shaping local‐ and large‐scale patterns of biodiversity. For well over a century, climatic factors have been regarded as primary sources of natural selection on animal body size, and hypotheses such as Bergmann's rule (the increase of body size with decreasing temperature) have dominated discussions. However, evidence for consistent climatic effects, especially among ectotherms, remains equivocal. Here, we test a range of key hypotheses on climate‐driven size evolution in squamate reptiles across several spatial and phylogenetic scales. Location Global. Time period Extant. Major taxa studied Squamates (lizards and snakes). Methods We quantified the role of temperature, precipitation, seasonality and net primary productivity as drivers of body mass across ca. 95% of extant squamate species (9,733 spp.). We ran spatial autoregressive models of phylogenetically corrected median mass per equal‐area grid cell. We ran models globally, across separate continents and for major squamate clades independently. We also performed species‐level analyses using phylogenetic generalized least square models and linear regressions of independent contrasts of sister species. Results Our analyses failed to identify consistent spatial patterns in body size as a function of our climatic predictors. Nearly all continent‐ and family‐level models differed from one another, and species‐level models had low explanatory power. Main conclusions The global distribution of body mass among living squamates varies independently from the variation in multiple components of climate. Our study, the largest in spatial and taxonomic scale conducted to date, reveals that there is little support for a universal, consistent mechanism of climate‐driven size evolution within squamates.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global patterns of body size evolution in squamate reptiles are not driven by climate

Slavenko

Feldman

Allison

et al. 2019

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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“…A more definitive approach to evaluating mechanistic drivers would be to perform physiological experiments to test for direct predictions of a particular mechanism (Shelomi, 2012). Within this context, a potentially fruitful strategy is to attempt to distil effects from competing hypotheses that share related environmental predictors, thus improving our understanding of the most relevant processes (Angilletta et al, 2004;Gaston et al, 2008;Vinarski, 2014). Within this context, a potentially fruitful strategy is to attempt to distil effects from competing hypotheses that share related environmental predictors, thus improving our understanding of the most relevant processes (Angilletta et al, 2004;Gaston et al, 2008;Vinarski, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Blackburn et al, 1999;Vinarski, 2014). For example, temperature, the primary predictor of spatial clines in body size, may correlate with several other environmental variables, including thermal seasonality, precipitation and environmental productivity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographical clines of body size in terrestrial amphibians: water conservation hypothesis revisited

Gouveia

Correia

2016

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim Faced with the dispute regarding spatial gradients of body size in ectotherms, we build upon their long‐known allometric relationship with water economy, which scales with thermal and hydric regimes, to revisit and refine the water conservation hypothesis (WCH). We provide a brief description of the WCH, including its physiological basis and geographical predictions for body size clines in terrestrial amphibians, and test it against heat‐based hypotheses in four amphibian clades. Location The Americas. Methods We employ phylogenetic comparative analyses to examine relationships between body size and both temperature, as a descriptor of the effect of heat alone, and potential evapotranspiration, which describes the water constraint along evaporative gradients. We assess these relationships in four amphibian clades: the subfamily of leaf frogs (Phyllomedusinae), genera of gladiator frogs (Hypsiboas), salamanders (Plethodon) and the family of glass frogs (Centrolenidae). Results Three clades did not show phylogenetic signals in body size variation. In addition, three clades showed a positive relationship with potential evapotranspiration as predicted, and all of them were unrelated to temperature. When present, however, the explanatory power of evaporative energy on body size variation was relatively weak. Main conclusions The conservation of water across evaporative gradients is both a more comprehensive explanation and a more pervasive driver of spatial clines in body size among terrestrial amphibians than is the balance of heat alone. However, the relatively low predictive ability of evaporative energy and its dependence on specific climatic configurations both emphasize and elucidate the non‐universality of the phenomenon.

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“…From a biogeographic perspective, results of our study suggest that the geographic pattern of body size in gamasid mites resembles that of Bergmann's (1847) rule (an increase in body Table 1 for geographic positions of the localities size with latitude or altitude). Although this rule was originally formulated for endotherms, there is a growing body of data showing that ectotherms may obey this rule as well (Chown and Gaston 2010;Vinarski 2014). Nevertheless, different arthropods demonstrate opposing patterns of the relationships between body size and latitude/altitude.…”

Section: Mite Body Size Environment and Geographymentioning

confidence: 91%

Intraspecific variation of body size in a gamasid mite Laelaps clethrionomydis: environment, geography and host dependence

Korallo‐Vinarskaya

Vinarski

Khokhlova³

et al. 2015

Parasitol Res

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We investigated intraspecific variation in body size of an ectoparasitic gamasid mite, Laelaps clethrionomydis, across 12 localities in the Palearctic. We asked whether mites collected from the same host species in different localities or from different host species in the same locality vary in body size. Within host species, mites collected in different localities differed significantly in body size, tending to be larger in northern than in southern localities. In addition, mite body size correlated negatively with mean annual temperature in a locality. Mites collected from different hosts in the same locality differed significantly in body size when hosts belonged to different genera but did not differ when collected from congeneric hosts. We conclude that intraspecific variation in mite body size is caused by interplay of environmental and host-related factors.

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On the applicability of Bergmann’s rule to ectotherms: The state of the art

Cited by 59 publications

References 108 publications

Global patterns of body size evolution in squamate reptiles are not driven by climate

Global patterns of body size evolution in squamate reptiles are not driven by climate

Geographical clines of body size in terrestrial amphibians: water conservation hypothesis revisited

Intraspecific variation of body size in a gamasid mite Laelaps clethrionomydis: environment, geography and host dependence

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