Bergmann's Rule - what's in a name?

By Shai Meiri. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2010

251 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Despite the great interest it generates, the definition of Bergmann's Rule is vague and often contested. Debate focuses on whether the rule should be described in terms of pattern or process, what taxa it should apply to and what taxonomic level it should be associated with. Here I review the historical development of studies of Bergmann's Rule. I suggest that Bergmann thought that his rule should be strongest at the intra-specific level, rather than between closely related species as is usually thought. I argue that the rule is a pattern that can be studied regardless of mechanism in any taxon and at any taxonomic level.

Subfields: Ecological Modeling, Geometry and Topology, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3a9deb07f901c648990373a101407856088f4c94

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Citations in the corpus

Bergmann's rule in mammals: a cross-species interspecific pattern (2013, unknown): “…rule, ‘ Bergmann ’ s rule ’ , should apply intra-speciﬁ cally or inter-speciﬁ cally (Blackburn et al. 1999, Pincheira-Donoso 2010, Watt et al. 2010, Meiri 2011), the original text leaves no doubt that the author considered his mechanism to apply generally, i.e. both across and within…”
Is oxygen limitation in warming waters a valid mechanism to explain decreased body sizes in aquatic ectotherms? (2018, background): “James' rule (James, 1970), but currently negative body size temperature correlations at both 143 inter- and intra-specific levels, and for both endo- and ectotherms, are often referred to as 144 Bergmann’s rule (Meiri, 2011).”
Avian body size changes and climate change: warming or increasing variability? (2012, background): “Predictions about how body size will change as a result of climate change depend on the mechanistic explanation behind Bergmann’s rule, of which there are several (Watt et al., 2010; Meiri, 2011).”
Morphological traits are linked to the cold performance and distribution of bees along elevational gradients (2016, background): “…et al., 2015), morphological adaptations (e.g. changes in body size, the length of body appendages or changes in the density and length of isolating hair to reduce heat loss) are possibly the most studied (Hodkinson, 2005; Peat et al., 2005; Meiri, 2011; Harrison et al., 2012; Hoiss et al., 2012).”
Regulation of animal size by eNPP, Bergmann's rule, and related phenomena (2011, background): “Meiri (2011) points out that Bergmann’s rule is actually an empirical generalization that describes a common intraspecific pattern in endotherms.”