The generality of the island rule reexamined

By Shai Meiri, T. Dayan, Daniel Simberloff. 2006

153 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Aim M.V. Lomolino and colleagues have recently reviewed the island rule in mammals and other vertebrates, claiming it is a general pattern. They have portrayed our recent analysis as weakly supporting the island rule, seeing weakness in our use of what they considered to be inadequate size indices (skulls and teeth, rather than mass or body length) and in our use of large islands. They argue that size evolution on islands points to a bauplan‐specific fundamental size. We aim to test the generality of the rule and the adequacy of some of the data used to support it.

Subfields: Ecology, Paleontology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3d601a4086bd0cb8333d56ef1a5a8b1a989be18b

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Citations in the corpus

Is the island rule general? Turtles disagree (2014, background): “Van Valen (1973) was impressed enough by this trend to comment that: ‘The regular evolution of mammalian body size on islands is an extraordinary phenomenon which seems to have fewer exceptions than any other ecotypic rule in animals’.”
Variation in above-ground forest biomass across broad climatic gradients (2011, background): “…including changes in climate, land use and atmospheric composition, is expected to have a strong influence on the future course of climate change (Laurance et al., 1997; Hurtt et al., 1998; Phillips et al., 1998; Clark et al., 2003; Baker et al., 2004a; Malhi & Phillips, 2004; Meiri et al., 2006).”
The island rule and a research agenda for studying ecogeographical patterns (2006, result): “For example, some studies ( Meiri et al., 2004a, 2006 ) question the generality of Foster’s (1963, 1964) island rule, which describes body-size trends in insular vertebrates; while others have confirmed it for a diversity of taxa, ecosystems and geographical regions (McNab, 2001, 2002; Anderson & Ha”
What determines conformity to Bergmann's rule? (2007, background): “Angilletta & Dunham, 2003; Millien et al. , 2006; Yom-Tov & Geffen, 2006). In all studies where multiple mammalian species have been tested for correlation between latitude and morphometric variables, some species did not show any association, and many homeotherms do not conform to Bergmann’s rule. ”
Dinosaurs and the island rule: The dwarfed dinosaurs from Haţeg Island (2010, background): “…other Haţeg dinosaurs may simply indicate that, while dwarfing is common and is related to isolation on a small island, it is not an absolute rule to which all species adhere, a case that has been made forcefully for modern mammals and lizards (Meiri et al., 2004, 2006; Meiri, 2007; and see above).”
The Canaries: an important biogeographical meeting place (2008, methodology): “…biogeographers in ecogeographical rules such as Bergmann’s rule, Jordan’s rule, and the Island rule (e.g. Meiri & Dayan, 2003; Lomolino et al., 2006; Meiri et al., 2006; ª 2008 The Authors www.blackwellpublishing.com/jbi Journal compilation ª 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd…”
Evolution and ecology of lizard body sizes (2008, result): “Be that as it may, contrary to the expectation of theories of optimal body size (Marquet & Taper, 1998; Boback & Guyer, 2003, cf. Meiri et al., 2005, 2006), islands seem to harbour an unusual number of both extremely small and very large lizards.”
Slaying dragons: limited evidence for unusual body size evolution on islands (2011, background): “…from terrestrial vertebrate studies provides mixed support for this rule (Clegg & Owens, 2002; Boback & Guyer, 2003; Lomolino, 2005; Meiri, 2007), with the best support coming from data for mammals (Lomolino, 1985; Price & Phillimore, 2007; Welch, 2009; but see Meiri et al., 2004, 2006, 2008).”
Size evolution in island lizards (2007, unknown): “Using a global data base of 52 carnivore species and another data base of 91 mammalian species, Meiri et al. (2006) found no support for the island rule (see also Meiri et al. , 2004).”