On the validity of Bergmann's rule

By Shai Meiri, T. Dayan. Journal of Biogeography, 2003

864 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Aim We reviewed the occurrence of Bergmann's rule in birds (ninety‐four species) and mammals (149 species), using only studies where statistical significance of the results was tested. We also tested whether studies using different characters as surrogates of body size have a different tendency to conform to Bergmann's rule, whether body size and nest type (in birds) have an influence on the tendency to conform to the rule, and whether sedentary birds conform to the rule more than migratory birds.

Subfields: Ecology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/97cdaaa97582f09ce93a6219f9c4341621fb643d

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Citations in the corpus

What determines conformity to Bergmann's rule? (2007, background): “Body size is a likely predictor, because the tendency for size to vary with latitude is predicted to increase with increasing body size (Freckleton et al ., 2003; Meiri & Dayan, 2003).”
The Canaries: an important biogeographical meeting place (2008, background): “…a considerable resurgence of interest among 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…”
Energy and interspecific body size patterns of amphibian faunas in Europe and North America: anurans follow Bergmann's rule, urodeles its converse (2007, background): “…at broad scales has become of central interest for biogeographers and ecologists (Mayr, 1956; Rosenzweig, 1968; McNab, 1971; Ashton et al ., 2000; Meiri & Dayan, 2003, Blackburn & Hawkins, 2004; Rodríguez et al. , 2006), although both the generality of the patterns and possible causal mechanisms…”
A geometric morphometric approach to the study of ecogeographical and clinal variation in vervet monkeys (2007, neutral): “…of an ecogeographical perspective on inter- and intraspecific morphological differences, particularly size and relative body proportions, has been highlighted by several recent studies and reviews (e.g. Ashton et al., 2000; Meiri & Dayan, 2003; Lomolino et al., 2006; Millien et al., 2006).”
The generality of the island rule reexamined (2006, result): “Climatic changes may cause dwarfing, in accordance with the finding that Bergmann’s rule is manifest in large mammals more than in small ones (Meiri & Dayan, 2003).”
Regulation of animal size by eNPP, Bergmann's rule, and related phenomena (2011, background): “Most groups of homeotherms show the pattern predicted by Bergmann (Ashton et al. 2000, Meiri and Dayan 2003).”
Conformation to Bergmann's Rule in White-tailed Deer can be Explained by Food Availability (2009, background): “…in animal body size at multiple taxonomic and geographic scales has focused on Bergmann’s rule, which states that members of species or closely related taxa are larger in colder parts of their range (Bergmann, 1847; Geist, 1987; Meiri and Dayan, 2003; Meiri et al., 2004; Rodrı́guez et al., 2006).”
Bergmann's rule in mammals: a cross-species interspecific pattern (2013, neutral): “taxonomic subsets, to compare inter-specific patterns with those identified intra-specifically 95 within different taxonomic groups (Meiri and Dayan 2003).”
Species persistence in northerly glacial refugia of Europe: a matter of chance or biogeographical traits? (2008, background): “However, the literature also suggests many examples where Bergmann’s rule does not apply (e.g. Ashton & Feldman, 2003; Meiri & Dayan, 2003; Blanckenhorn & Demont, 2004).”
Ecogeographical rules: elements of a synthesis (2008, background): “…frequency of increases in body size with latitude and/or temperature, decreases with latitude and/or temperature, and an absence of any simple pattern (e.g. McNab, 1971; Chown & Gaston, 1999; Ashton et al., 2000; Ashton, 2002; Meiri & Dayan, 2003; Blanckenhorn & Demont, 2004; Meiri et al., 2004a).”
Seeing the forest for the trees: partitioning ecological and phylogenetic components of Bergmann's rule in European Carnivora (2007, background): “The contemporary interest in this pattern, which was first described in the mid 19th century, is evident by the numerous recent papers evaluating its generality (Ashton et al. 2000, Meiri and Dayan 2003, de Queiroz and Ashton 2004, Meiri et al. 2004).”
The geography of body size - challenges of the interspecific approach (2007, background): “Bergmann’s rule was found to hold within the majority of endotherm species (Ashton et al. , 2000, Meiri & Dayan, 2003), although in ectotherm species, patterns seem more complex (e.g. Atkinson, 1994, Ashton, 2002, Ashton & Feldman, 2003).”
The island rule and a research agenda for studying ecogeographical patterns (2006, background): “a 2006 The Authors www.blackwellpublishing.com/jbi 1503 Journal compilation a 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd doi:10.1111/j.1365-2699.2006.01593.x (Gaston et al., 1998), as well as other studies confirming the generality of these patterns (in mammals: Ashton et al., 2000; Meiri & Dayan, 2003; Meiri ”
Large‐scale intraspecific variation in life‐history traits of European freshwater fish (2006, background): “…within-species tendency for increasing body size with increasing latitude or decreasing environmental temperature, both in endotherms (Ashton et al., 2000; Ashton, 2002b; Meiri & Dayan, 2003) and in ectotherms (Ashton, 2002a; Ashton & Feldman, 2003; Morrison & Hero, 2003; Anguilletta et al., 2004).”
Global warming, Bergmann's rule and body size in the masked shrew Sorex cinereus Kerr in Alaska (2005, methodology): “When testing Bergmann’s rule, latitude is often used as a proxy for ambient temperature (see Ashton, Tracy & de Queiroz 2000; Meiri & Dayan 2003 ).”