Body size variation in insects: a macroecological perspective

By Steven L. Chown, Kevin J. Gaston. Biological Reviews of The Cambridge Philosophical Society, 2010

712 citations recorded by the source corpus.

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

Slaying dragons: limited evidence for unusual body size evolution on islands (2011, background): “For example, the St Helena earwig, Labidura herculeana, the Indonesian stick insect, Pharnacia serratipes, and the New Zealand giant wetas (Deinacrida spp.) are probably the largest representatives of their clades (Chown & Gaston, 2010).”
Ant assemblages have darker and larger members in cold environments (2016, neutral): “This size effect underpins wide-ranging biogeographical predictions such as Bergmann’s rule, which states that organisms should be larger in cold environments (Chown & Gaston, 2010).”
Experimental warming in the field delays phenology and reduces body mass, fat content and survival: Implications for the persistence of a pollinator under climate change (2018, background): “Although linear body size and body mass may be strongly correlated, body mass can respond to changes in temperature while linear body size remains unchanged (Chown & Gaston, 2010), making it important to measure both variables.”
Why polar gigantism and Palaeozoic gigantism are not equivalent: effects of oxygen and temperature on the body size of ectotherms (2013, background): “Of course, numerous other factors (e.g. temperature, length of growing season, food quality and quantity) are known to affect body size (e.g. Chown & Gaston 2010; Moran & Woods 2012), but oxygen may shift or push the boundaries of size distribution set by*Correspondence author.”