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59 results for “body size change”
Body size mediates trophic interaction strength of novel fish assemblages under climate change
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Data from: Urbanization-driven changes in web-building and body size in an orb-web spider
1. In animals, behavioural responses may play an important role in determining population persistence in the face of environmental changes. Body size is a key trait central to many life history traits and behaviours. Correlations with body size may constrain behavioural variation in response to environmental changes, especially when size itself is influenced by environmental conditions. 2. Urbanization is an important human-induced rapid environmental change that imposes multiple selection pressures on both body size and (size-constrained) behaviour. How these combine to shape behavioural responses of urban-dwelling species is unclear. 3. Using web-building, an easily quantifiable behaviour linked to body size, and the garden spider Araneus diadematus as a model, we evaluated direct behavioural responses to urbanization and body size constraints across a network of 63 selected populations differing in urbanization intensity. We additionally studied urbanization at two spatial scales to account for some environmental pressures varying across scales and to obtain first qualitative insights about the role of plasticity and genetic selection. 4. Spiders were smaller in highly urbanized sites (local scale only), in line with expectations based on reduced prey biomass availability and the Urban Heat Island effect. Web surface and mesh width decreased with urbanization at the local scale, while web surface also increased with urbanization at the landscape scale. The latter two responses are expected to compensate, at least in part, for reduced prey biomass availability in cities. The use of multivariate mixed modelling reveals that although web traits and body size are correlated within populations, behavioural responses to urbanization do not appear to be constrained by size: there is no evidence of size-web correlations among populations or among landscapes, and web traits appear independent from each other. 5. Our results demonstrate that responses in size-dependent behaviours may be decoupled from size changes, thereby allowing fitness maximisation in novel environments. The spatial scale at which traits respond suggests contributions of both genetic adaptation (for web investment) and plasticity (for mesh width). Although fecundity decreased with local-scale urbanization, Araneus diadematus abundances were similar across urbanization gradients; behavioural responses thus appear overall successful at the population level.
Data from: Bison body size and climate change
The relationship between body size and temperature of mammals is poorly resolved, especially for large keystone species such as bison (Bison bison). Bison are well-represented in the fossil record across North America, which provides an opportunity to relate body size to climate within a species. We measured the length of a leg bone (calcaneal tuber, DstL) in 849 specimens from 60 localities that were dated by stratigraphy and 14C decay. We estimated body mass (M) as: M = (DstL/11.49) 3. Average annual temperature was estimated from δ18O values in the ice cores from Greenland. Calcaneal tuber length of Bison declined over the last 40,000 years, that is, average body mass was 37% larger (910 ± 50 kg) than today (665 ± 21 kg). Average annual temperature has warmed by 6°C since the Last Glacial Maximum (~24-18 kya) and is predicted to further increase by 4°C by the end of the 21st century. If body size continues to linearly respond to global temperature, Bison body mass will likely decline by an additional 46%, to 357 ± 54 kg, with an increase of 4°C globally. The rate of mass loss is 41 ± 10 kg per °C increase of global temperature. Changes in body size of Bison may be a result of migration, disease, or human harvest but those effects are likely to be local and short-term and not likely to persist over the long-time-scale of the fossil record. The strong correspondence between body size of bison and air temperature is more likely the result of persistent effects on the ability to grow and the consequences of sustaining a large body mass in a warming environment. Continuing rises in global temperature will likely depress body sizes of bison, and perhaps other large grazers, without human intervention.
Data from: The evolution of mammal body sizes: responses to Cenozoic climate change in North American mammals
Explanations for the evolution of body size in mammals have remained surprisingly elusive despite the central importance of body size in evolutionary biology. Here, we present a model which argues that the body sizes of Nearctic mammals were moulded by Cenozoic climate and vegetation changes. Following the early Eocene Climate Optimum, forests retreated and gave way to open woodland and savannah landscapes, followed later by grasslands. Many herbivores that radiated in these new landscapes underwent a switch from browsing to grazing associated with increased unguligrade cursoriality and body size, the latter driven by the energetics and constraints of cellulose digestion (fermentation). Carnivores also increased in size and digitigrade, cursorial capacity to occupy a size distribution allowing the capture of prey of the widest range of body sizes. With the emergence of larger, faster carnivores, plantigrade mammals were constrained from evolving to large body sizes and most remained smaller than 1 kg throughout the middle Cenozoic. We find no consistent support for either Cope's Rule or Bergmann's Rule in plantigrade mammals, the largest locomotor guild (n = 1186, 59% of species in the database). Some cold-specialist plantigrade mammals, such as beavers and marmots, showed dramatic increases in body mass following the Miocene Climate Optimum which may, however, be partially explained by Bergmann's rule. This study reemphasizes the necessity of considering the evolutionary history and resultant form and function of mammalian morphotypes when attempting to understand contemporary mammalian body size distributions.
Data from: Microhabitat and body size effects on heat tolerance: implications for responses to climate change (army ants: Formicidae, Ecitoninae)
1. Models that predict organismal and population responses to climate change may be improved by considering ecological factors that affect species thermal tolerance. Species differences in microhabitat use can expose animals to diverse thermal selective environments at a given site and may cause sympatric species to evolve different thermal tolerances. 2. We tested the hypothesis that species differences in body size and microhabitat use (above- vs. below-ground activity) would correspond to differences in thermal tolerance (maximum critical temperatures: CTmax). Thermal buffering effects of soil can reduce exposure to extreme high temperatures for below-ground active species. We predicted larger-bodied individuals and species would have higher CTmax and that species mean CTmax would covary positively with degree of above-ground activity. We used Neotropical army ants (Formicidae: Ecitoninae) as models. Army ants vary in microhabitat use from largely subterranean to largely above-ground active species and are highly size polymorphic. 3. We collected data on above- and below-ground temperatures in habitats used by army ants to test for microhabitat temperature differences, and we conducted CTmax assays for army ant species with varying degrees of surface activity and with different body sizes within and between species. We then tested whether microhabitat use was associated with species differences in CTmax and whether microhabitat was a better predictor of CTmax than body size for species that overlapped in size. 4. Microhabitat use was a highly significant predictor of species' upper thermal tolerance limits, both for raw data and after accounting for the effects of phylogeny. Below-ground species were more thermally sensitive, with lower maximum critical temperatures (CTmax). The smallest workers within each species were the least heat tolerant, but the magnitude of CTmax change with body size was greater in below-ground species. Species-typical microhabitat was a stronger predictor of CTmax than body size for species that overlapped in size. Compared to the soil surface, 10-cm subsoil was a significantly moderated thermal environment for below-ground army ants, while maximum surface raid temperatures sometimes exceeded CTmax for the most thermally sensitive army ant castes. 5. We conclude sympatric species differences in thermal physiology correspond to microhabitat use. These patterns should be accounted for in models of species and community responses to thermal variation and climate change.
Using different body size measures can lead to different conclusions about the effects of climate change
<div> <div> <div> <div> <p><strong>Aim:</strong> Declining animal body size has been proposed as a general response to increasing global temperatures that should be observed across a broad biogeographical scale. However, published studies have shown large variation in both the magnitude and direction of body size trends. We aim to investigate how the way body size is measured (body mass, structural size, body condition) may contribute to differences in body size trends between studies.</p> <p><strong>Location:</strong> Semi-arid Australia.</p> <p><strong>Taxon: </strong>White-plumed honeyeater (Ptilotula penicillatus).</p> <p><strong>Methods:</strong> We studied two separate populations of P. penicillatus over 30 years to investigate the associations between weather and body size. We first investigated how body mass has been affected by weather conditions at each site and then determined how these same local weather conditions affected the constituent components of body mass (structural size and body condition).</p> <p><strong>Results: </strong>The magnitude and direction of weather effects differed with the measure of body size used. Average structural size (wing length) increased with increasing temperatures while average body condition decreased. As body mass is a composite of structural size and body condition, the magnitude and direction of body mass trends was affected by trends in these two other traits. For example, differences in temperature effects on structural size between our two sites led to clear differences in body mass trends.</p> <p><strong>Main Conclusions:</strong> Trends in body size will be strongly affected by the choice of body size measure used in analyses. Change in body mass can be particularly difficult to interpret as it will be a composite of changes in both structural size and body condition. Our results indicate that it is difficult to compare studies using different measures of body size. Using consistent measures of body size will be important to better understand the general effects of climate change on body size.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div>
Impact of landscape fragmentation and climate change on body size variation of bumblebees during the last century
<p>Body size is a key parameter of organism fitness. While the impact of climate change on body size has received increasing attention, the long-term consequences of landscape fragmentation are still poorly known. These two major global threats may potentially induce opposite trends: the decrease of body size in warmer environments (e.g. individuals developing faster) or the selection of larger individuals in fragmented habitats (e.g. large individuals more capable of reaching distant patches). We assessed the relationship between temperature and landscape fragmentation with mean body size during the last century, within four European regions (Austria, Belgium, England and above the Arctic circle in Scandinavia) and among queens of five bumblebee species. At the regional scale, we first analysed the variation over time of body size and the two hypothesised drivers, temperature and landscape fragmentation. Then, at the local landscape scale, we tested whether body size varied according to these drivers irrespective of the region. At the regional level, we observed a statistically clear increase of queen body size corresponding to an increase of landscape fragmentation (i.e. in Belgium and England). There was no increase of size when fragmentation did not increase (i.e. in Austria and above the Arctic Circle). Temperature also increased through time in all regions. At the local landscape scale, we found that all species were impacted by changes in both climate and landscape fragmentation but show different trends. The body size of the two largest species significantly increased at landscape level with higher fragmentation while body size of the two smallest species decreased with higher fragmentation. We highlight that, in a context of global changes, landscape fragmentation can also be a major driver of body size clines. Depending on the dispersal abilities of species, larger species could be positively selected for and overcome landscape fragmentation.</p>
Data from: Trophic niches of Collembola communities change with elevation but also with body size and life form
<p>Climate change increases habitat loss of endemic tree species and drives forest conversion in mountainous forests. Elevational gradients provide the opportunity to predict possible consequences of such changes. While species compositions of various taxa have been investigated along elevational gradients, data on trophic changes in soil-dwelling organisms is scarce. Here, we analyze trophic changes of the Collembola community along the northern slope of Changbai Mountain, China. We sampled seven elevations (800-1700 m asl) with 150 m elevational difference along a primary forest gradient. At eight subplots per elevation, we categorized Collembola species into life forms, measured individual body lengths and bulk stable isotopes. Mean and minimum <span>Δ<sup>15</sup>N and mean Δ<sup>13</sup>C increased with increasing elevation, while the range of Δ<sup>15</sup>N decreased. Maximum and minimum of Δ<sup>13</sup>C differed between elevations but showed no linear response. Isotopic uniqueness increased with elevation. Δ<sup>15</sup>N values of Collembola species occurring across all elevations increased with elevation. Changes in Δ<sup>15</sup>N with elevation were most pronounced in hemiedaphic species. Δ<sup>15</sup>N </span>values <span>increased with decreasing body size in hemiedaphic and euedaphic species. </span>Δ<sup>13</sup>C increased strongest with elevation in euedaphic species. <span>Overall, the</span> results suggest that<span> Collembola species functioning as primary decomposers shift towards functioning as secondary decomposers at higher elevations. Further</span>, access to alternative food resources may depend on Collembola life form and body size, this relationship, however, likely varies between ecosystems. Collembola functioning as secondary decomposers in coniferous forests may function as primary decomposers under climate driven forest conversion as species boundaries of tree species of lower elevations expand.</p>
Data from: Body size, developmental instability and climate change
Development is often temperature-dependent. We hypothesized smaller size and larger asymmetry with increasing temperatures. However, we also predicted associations with asymmetry to differ among traits that differ in their degree of functional importance (especially the functional wings in migratory birds were predicted to be more canalized), timing of development (skeletal (femur, tarsus and humerus) vs feather (wing and tail traits). We analyzed a large dataset of which we included species with at least 20 specimens resulting in 5533 asymmetry values in 1593 individuals from 66 species. There was a consistent significant decrease in size with temperature across all traits. Fluctuating asymmetry for wings and femur was on average lower, suggesting higher canalization, and it decreased with migration distance, while that was not the case for the other traits. Fluctuating asymmetry increased with increasing temperature for wings, but not for the other characters, where the different responses of different characters to temperature was significant. Since there was no significant three-way interaction between temperature, migration distance and character, the asymmetry-temperature response was similar in migratory and resident species. These findings imply that climate warming reduces size of all traits and decreases developmental instability of wings in birds.
Data analysis from: Demographic consequences of changing body size in a terrestrial salamander
<p>Changes in climate can alter individual body size, and the resulting shifts in reproduction and survival are expected to impact population dynamics and viability. However, appropriate methods to account for size-dependent demographic changes are needed, especially in understudied yet threatened groups such as amphibians. We investigated individual and population-level demographic effects of changes in body size for a terrestrial salamander using capture-mark-recapture data. For our analysis, we implemented an integral projection model parameterized with capture-recapture likelihood estimates from a Bayesian framework. Our study combines survival and growth data from a single dataset to quantify the influence of size on survival while including different sources of uncertainty around these parameters, demonstrating how selective forces can be studied in populations with limited data and incomplete recaptures. We found a strong dependency of the population growth rate on changes in individual size, mediated by potential changes in selection on mean body size and on maximum body size. Our approach of simultaneous parameter estimation can be extended across taxa to identify eco-evolutionary mechanisms acting on size-specific vital rates, and thus shaping population dynamics and viability.</p>
Data from: The evolution of mammal body sizes: responses to Cenozoic climate change in North American mammals
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Data from: Eco-evolutionary dynamics in urbanized landscapes: evolution, species sorting and the change in zooplankton body size along urbanization gradients
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Data from: Climate change and temporal trends in body size: the case of rodents
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Data from: Investigating yellow dung fly body size evolution in the field: response to climate change?
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Data from: Decreases in beetle body size linked to climate change and warming temperatures
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Data from: Microhabitat and body size effects on heat tolerance: implications for responses to climate change (army ants: Formicidae, Ecitoninae)
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Data from: Temperature-dependent growth and fission rate plasticity drive seasonal and geographic changes in body size in a clonal sea anemone
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Data from: Trophic niches of Collembola communities change with elevation but also with body size and life form
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Data from: Climate change and body size shift in Mediterranean bivalve assemblages: unexpected role of biological invasions
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Data from: Bison body size and climate change
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Allen Brain Atlas
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