When Rensch Meets Bergmann: Does Sexual Size Dimorphism Change Systematically With Latitude?

Blanckenhorn, Wolf U.; Stillwell, R. Craig; Young, Kyle A.; Fox, Charles; Ashton, Kyle G.

doi:10.1554/06-110.1

Cited by 144 publications

(212 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…of Nottingham,Nottingham,, Dept of Zoology, Tel-Aviv Univ., Tel-Aviv, Israel. Research (Fairbairn 2007). For example, Cardillo (2002) found no latitudinal trend in SSD of birds, while Blanckenhorn et al (2006) found latitudinally structured variation in SSD for two-thirds of 96 species from a variety of taxa. However, these geographical patterns are not ubiquitous.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

A biogeographic reversal in sexual size dimorphism along a continental temperature gradient

et al. 2018

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The magnitude and direction of sexual size dimorphism (SSD) varies greatly across the animal kingdom, reflecting differential selection pressures on the reproductive and/or ecological roles of males and females. If the selection pressures and constraints imposed on body size change along environmental gradients, then SSD will vary geographically in a predictable way. Here, we uncover a biogeographical reversal in SSD of lizards from Central and North America: in warm, low latitude environments, males are larger than females, but at colder, high latitudes, females are larger than males. Comparisons to expectations under a Brownian motion model of SSD evolution indicate that this pattern reflects differences in the evolutionary rates and/or trajectories of sex-specific body sizes. The SSD gradient we found is strongly related to mean annual temperature, but is independent of species richness and body size differences among species within grid cells, suggesting that the biogeography of SSD reflects gradients in sexual and/or fecundity selection, rather than intersexual niche divergence to minimize intraspecific competition. We demonstrate that the SSD gradient is driven by stronger variation in male size than in female size and is independent of clutch mass. This suggests that gradients in sexual selection and male-male competition, rather than fecundity selection to maximize reproductive output by females in seasonal environments, are predominantly responsible for the gradient.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

A biogeographic reversal in sexual size dimorphism along a continental temperature gradient

et al. 2018

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“…The observed tendency can be characterized in the following way: the sooner the frost-free period begins and the larger the number of warm days in a year is, the larger the E. ligea male wings are. It is obvious that the sooner the frost-free period comes, the longer the vegetation period is in general (allowing caterpillars to feed on average longer than in the regions with shorter summer) (Blanckenhorn et al, 2006). Unfortunately, we have female samples from only three studied habitats (Table 1), which does not allow us to fully estimate the character of their variability depending on analyzed climatic factors.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Geographical variability of sizes (the length of fore and hind wing) is characterized by a cline consisting of a gradual increase in imago sizes in the direction from north to south (that is in general typical for monovoltine Lepidoptera) (Nylin and Svärd, 1991;Blanckenhorn et al, 2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chrono–geographical approach to analysis of variability of bicyclic Erebia ligea (L.) (Lepidoptera: Satyridae) species in the Urals

Захарова

Tatarinov

2016

Contemp. Probl. Ecol.

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The phenotypic variability of a complex of metric traits (the length of fore and hind wings and diameters of wing pattern spots) in populations of trans-Eurasian Erebia ligea species in different landscapezonal and climatic conditions of the Ural region has been analyzed. It is demonstrated that protandry, bicyclicity, and imago emergence, mainly in odd years, are inherent for the E. ligea in the Ural territory. The geographical variability of sizes is characterized by a cline consisting in a gradual increase in imago sizes in the direction from north to south. The chrono-geographical approach allowed us to establish the scale of observed differences: differences of a complex of analyzed traits caused by chronographic variability are the largest, followed by those caused by sexual, geographical, and-only at the very end-seasonal variability (that is, the time of imago emergence during generation flight).

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“…In mammals and other vertebrates, strong sexual selection faced by males is the mechanism most widely accepted to explain Rensch's rule in species with male-biased SSD (Abouheif and Fairbairn 1997;Dale et al 2007). However, which endothermic animals follow Rensch's rule remains unclear because opposite patterns have been found in taxa where females are the larger sex, exhibiting the converse of Rensch's rule (Blanckenhorn et al 2006;Webb and Freckleton 2007). In other taxa, neither Rensch's rule nor the converse of Rensch's rule is followed (Tubaro and Bertelli 2003;Liao et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another widespread pattern that describes body size variation is Rensch's rule, which states that SSD becomes more evident and male-biased when body size increases (Rensch 1950;Blanckenhorn et al 2006). In mammals and other vertebrates, strong sexual selection faced by males is the mechanism most widely accepted to explain Rensch's rule in species with male-biased SSD (Abouheif and Fairbairn 1997;Dale et al 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intraspecific variation in body size and sexual size dimorphism, and a test of Rensch's rule in bats

Ulian

Rossi

2017

Acta Zoologica

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Ulian, C.M.V. and Rossi, M.N. 2017. Intraspecific variation in body size and sexual size dimorphism, and a test of Rensch's rule in bats. -Acta Zoologica (Stockholm) 98: 377-386.The magnitude and direction of sexual size dimorphism (SSD) may vary considerably within and among taxa, and the primary causes of such variation have not been thoroughly elucidated. For example, the effect of abiotic factors is frequently attributed to explain intra-and interspecific variation in SSD. Rensch's rule, which states that males vary more in size than females when body size increases, has rarely been tested in bats. Therefore, whether bats follow Rensch's rule remains unclear, particularly when females are larger than males. We investigated whether four bat species presented SSD, as well as whether their body sizes varied within each sex across localities, testing the hypothesis that intraspecific SSD varies substantially depending of sampling localities. We finally examined whether bats followed Rensch's rule by simultaneously using intraspecific and interspecific approaches. Although SSD was not observed for most bat species within each locality, the females of three of the four captured species exhibited differences in body size between particular localities. Usually the females varied more in size than did males across localities, mostly exhibiting a female-biased SSD. Significant differences in SSD were observed (i.e. mean values of the sexual dimorphism index), even though Rensch's rule was not followed.

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When Rensch Meets Bergmann: Does Sexual Size Dimorphism Change Systematically With Latitude?

Cited by 144 publications

References 51 publications

A biogeographic reversal in sexual size dimorphism along a continental temperature gradient

A biogeographic reversal in sexual size dimorphism along a continental temperature gradient

Chrono–geographical approach to analysis of variability of bicyclic Erebia ligea (L.) (Lepidoptera: Satyridae) species in the Urals

Intraspecific variation in body size and sexual size dimorphism, and a test of Rensch's rule in bats

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