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24 results for “size allometry”
Figure 1. a–c in Pelvic and sacral size dimorphism and allometry in two predatory carnivores with different life histories and locomotory adaptations
Figure 1. a–c) Pelvic and sacral measures used in the study. All abbreviations and measures [GL (1–1´); GBTc (2–2´); SB (3–3´); GBA (4–4´); SBI (5–5´); GBTi (6–6´); LAR (7–7´); LFo (8–8´); BFo (9–9´); BPuS (10–10´); LPuS (11–11´); PL (12–12´); GB (13–13´); BFcr (14–14´); HFcr (15–15´)] are explained in Section 2.
Small skeletons show size-specific scaling: an exploration of allometry in the mammalian lumbar spine
<p>Studies of vertebrate bone biomechanics often focus on skeletal adaptations at upper extremes of body mass, ignoring the importance of skeletal adaptations at lower extremes. Yet mammals are ancestrally small and most modern species have masses under 5 kg, so the evolution of morphology and function at small size should be prioritized for understanding how mammals make a living. We examined allometric scaling of lumbar vertebrae in the small-bodied Philippine endemic rodents known as cloud rats, which vary in mass across two orders of magnitude (15.5g-2700g). External vertebral dimensions scale with isometry or positive allometry, likely relating to body size and nuances in quadrupedal posture. In contrast to most mammalian trabecular bone studies, bone volume fraction and trabecular thickness scale with positive allometry and isometry, respectively. It is physiologically impossible for these trends to continue to the upper extremes of mammalian body size, and we demonstrate a fundamental difference in trabecular bone allometry between large- and small-bodied mammals. These findings have important implications for the biomechanical capabilities of mammalian bone at small body size, for the selective pressures that govern skeletal evolution in small mammals, and for the way we define "small" and "large" in the context of vertebrate skeletons.</p>
Data from: female preference for super-sized male ornaments and its implications for the evolution of ornament allometry
<p><span>It has been argued that disproportionately larger ornaments in bigger males—positive allometry—is the outcome of sexual selection operating on the size of condition dependent traits. We reviewed the literature and found a general lack of empirical testing of the assumed link between female preferences for large ornaments and a pattern of positive allometry in male ornamentation. We subsequently conducted a manipulative experiment by leveraging the unusual terrestrial fish, <em>Alticus </em>sp. cf. <em>simplicirrus</em>, on the island of Rarotonga. Males in this species present a prominent head crest to females during courtship, and the size of this head crest in the genus more broadly exhibits the classic pattern of positive allometry. We created realistic male models standardized in body size but differing in head crest size based on the most extreme allometric scaling recorded for the genus. This included a crest size well outside the observed range for the study population (super-sized). The stimuli were presented to free-living females in a manner that mimicked the spatial distribution of courting males. Females directed greater attention to the male stimulus that exhibited the super-sized crest, with little difference in attention direct to other size treatments. These data appear to be the only experimental evidence from the wild of a female preference function that has been implicitly assumed to drive selection that results in the evolution of positive allometry in male ornamentation.</span></p>
Data from: female preference for super-sized male ornaments and its implications for the evolution of ornament allometry
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Small skeletons show size-specific scaling: an exploration of allometry in the mammalian lumbar spine
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Data from: Shell constraints on evolutionary body size-limb size allometry can explain morphological conservatism in the turtle body plan
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Data from: Tropical trees in a wind-exposed island ecosystem: height-diameter allometry and size at onset of maturity
1. Tropical tree species adapted to high wind environments might be expected to differ systematically in terms of stem allometry and life-history patterns, as compared with species found in less windy forests. We quantified height-diameter (H-D) allometries and relative size at onset of maturity (RSOM) for rainforest tree and tree fern species native to Dominica, West Indies, an island that experiences some of the highest average wind speeds pantropically. 2. H-D allometries for 17 Dominican angiosperm tree species were strongly concave on a log-log scale with asymptotic heights ranging from 9-32 m among species, averaging 25 m for canopy trees. H-D allometries for species-pooled data deviated strongly from recorded patterns for other tropical forest trees: asymptotic heights for trees in Dominica were 30-116% lower than those recorded for continental rainforest trees in Australia, South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. In a subset of canopy trees sampled in steep, sheltered valleys, heights were 12-26% larger at a given diameter, and approached those observed in other tropical regions, suggesting large phenotypic responses of H-D allometries to wind conditions. 3. RSOM (quantified as the ratio of height at onset of reproduction to asymptotic maximum height) for Dominican angiosperm species was highly variable, ranging from 0.23-0.89 (mean 0.54), similar to patterns observed in Malaysia and Panama; very low RSOM values were estimated for two tree fern species. Pooling data from Dominica with published values from other tropical forests, we observed a significant negative correlation between RSOM and wood density. 4. Synthesis: Our data suggest that wind regimes are a critical determinant of height-diameter (H-D) allometries of tropical trees at both the local and global scale. Although we found no evidence for a systematic differences in reproductive onset related to wind regime, RSOM was negatively correlated with species' wood density, suggesting that more shade-tolerant tree species show a longer period of gradually increasing reproductive allocation through ontogeny.
Data from: The allometry of brain size in mammals
Why some animals have big brains and others do not has intrigued scholars for millennia. Yet, the taxonomic scope of brain size research is limited to a few mammal lineages. Here, we present a brain size dataset compiled from the literature for 1,552 species with representation from 28 extant taxonomic orders. The brain–body size allometry across all mammals is (Brain) = −1.26 (Body)^0.75. This relationship shows strong phylogenetic signal. Thus, we conducted additional allometries using median species values for each order, family, and genus to ensure evolutionary independence. Slopes from these analyses at different taxonomic levels all approximate ~0.75 scaling. Why brain size scales to the 3/4 power to body size across mammals is to our knowledge unknown. Slopes within taxonomic orders, exhibiting smaller size ranges, are generally shallower than 0.75 and range from 0.24 to 0.81 with a median slope of 0.64. Published data on brain size are lacking for the majority of extant mammals (> 70% of species) with strong bias in representation from Primates, Carnivora, Perissodactyla, and Australidelphian marsupials (orders Dasyuromorphia, Diprotodontia, Peramelemorphia). Several orders are particularly underrepresented. For example, data on brain size are available for less than 20% of species in each of the following speciose lineages: Soricomorpha, Rodentia, Lagomorpha, Didelphimorphia, and Scandentia. Use of museum collections can decrease the current taxonomic bias in mammal brain size data and tests of hypothesis.
Data from: Size matters for lice on birds: coevolutionary allometry of host and parasite body size
Body size is one of the most fundamental characteristics of all organisms. It influences physiology, morphology, behavior, and even interspecific interactions such as those between parasites and their hosts. Host body size influences the magnitude and variability of parasite size according to Harrison's Rule (HR: positive relationship between host and parasite body sizes) and Poulin's Increasing Variance Hypothesis (PIVH: positive relationship between host body size and the variability of parasite body size). We analyzed parasite-host body size allometry for 581 species of avian lice (~15% of known diversity) and their hosts. We applied phylogenetic generalized least squares methods to account for phylogenetic non-independence controlling for host and parasite phylogenies separately and variance heterogeneity. We tested HR and PIVH for the major families of avian lice (Ricinidae, Menoponidae, Philopteridae), and for distinct ecological guilds within Philopteridae. Our data indicate that most families and guilds of avian lice follow both HR and PIVH; however, Ricinids did not follow PIVH and the "body lice" guild of Philopterid lice did not follow HR or PIVH. We discuss mathematical and ecological factors that may be responsible for these patterns, and we discuss the potential pervasiveness of these relationships among all parasites on Earth.
Data from: Squamate hatchling size and the evolutionary causes of negative offspring size allometry
Although fecundity selection is ubiquitous, in an overwhelming majority of animal lineages, small species produce smaller number of offspring per clutch. In this context, egg, hatchling and neonate sizes are absolutely larger, but smaller relative to adult body size in larger species. The evolutionary causes of this widespread phenomenon are not fully explored. The negative offspring size allometry can result from processes limiting maximal egg/offspring size forcing larger species to produce relatively smaller offspring ('upper limit'), or from a limit on minimal egg/offspring size forcing smaller species to produce relatively larger offspring ('lower limit'). Several reptile lineages have invariant clutch sizes, where females always lay either one or two eggs per clutch. These lineages offer an interesting perspective on the general evolutionary forces driving negative offspring size allometry, because an important selective factor, fecundity selection in a single clutch, is eliminated here. Under the upper limit hypotheses, large offspring should be selected against in lineages with invariant clutch sizes as well, and these lineages should therefore exhibit the same, or shallower, offspring size allometry as lineages with variable clutch size. On the other hand, the lower limit hypotheses would allow lineages with invariant clutch sizes to have steeper offspring size allometries. Using an extensive data set on the hatchling and female sizes of > 1800 species of squamates, we document that negative offspring size allometry is widespread in lizards and snakes with variable clutch sizes and that some lineages with invariant clutch sizes have unusually steep offspring size allometries. These findings suggest that the negative offspring size allometry is driven by a constraint on minimal offspring size, which scales with a negative allometry.
Physics of sliding on water explains morphological and behavioural allometry across a wide range of body sizes in water striders (Gerridae)
<p>Data set of species measurements and the MATLAB code of sliding water strider used in "Physics of sliding on water predicts morphological and behavioral allometry across a wide range of body sizes in water striders (Gerridae)"</p>
Shape coordinates and centroid size for adults and ontogenetic series analyzed in predictable complexity of evolutionary allometry
<p>Allometry has been a paradigm of constraints, including intrinsic constraints on the evolvability of allometry, as a source of developmental and genetic constraints on the evolution of form, and of functional constraints, maintaining functional equivalence as body size evolves. Yet, allometry may be the simplest case of varied constraints, and of morphological integration, even though allometry itself is not simple. Evolutionary allometry may be especially complex because it depends not only on the developmental origins of allometry and determinants of allometric variation but also on the evolutionary dynamics of size and shape. It should also depend on the ecological opportunity for size-dependent ecomorphological specialization. We predict that lineages that converge in those would exhibit similar evolutionary allometries but otherwise, evolutionary allometries would be heterogeneous. Countering this expectation are familiar craniofacial evolutionary allometries, often ascribed to developmental bias. To test both those hypotheses, we compare evolutionary allometries of mandibles across lineages of squirrels and evolutionary to growth allometries. As expected, lineages that converge on size-dependent specializations exhibit similar evolutionary allometries, but otherwise, their allometries are no more similar than expected by chance. Growth allometries of squirrels (and a cricetid rodent) slightly resemble the evolutionary allometry of one lineage, but growth allometries of species from other lineages are orthogonal to their own lineages' evolutionary allometry. We would expect that craniofacial allometries that are not brain-driven would, like mandibular evolutionary allometries, be predictable only from size-dependent ecological specializations.</p>
Data from: The allometry of brain size in mammals
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Data from: Differences in caste dimorphism among three hornet species (Hymenoptera: Vespidae): forewing size, shape and allometry
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Data from: Tropical trees in a wind-exposed island ecosystem: height-diameter allometry and size at onset of maturity
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Data from: Squamate hatchling size and the evolutionary causes of negative offspring size allometry
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Shape coordinates and centroid size for adults and ontogenetic series analyzed in predictable complexity of evolutionary allometry
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Data from: Size matters for lice on birds: coevolutionary allometry of host and parasite body size
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Data from: Time-limited environments affect the evolution of egg - body size allometry
Initial offspring size is a fundamental component of absolute growth rate, where large offspring will reach a given adult body size faster than smaller offspring. Yet, our knowledge regarding the co-evolution between offspring and adult size is limited. In time-constrained environments, organisms need to reproduce at a high rate and reach a reproductive size quickly. In order to rapidly attain a large adult body size, we hypothesize that, in seasonal habitats, large species are bound to having a large initial size, and consequently, the evolution of egg size will be tightly matched to that of body size, compared to less time-limited systems. We tested this hypothesis in killifishes, and found a significantly steeper allometric relationship between egg size and body size in annual, compared to non-annual species. We also found higher rates of evolution of egg and body size in annual compared to non-annual species. Our results suggest that time-constrained environments impose strong selection on rapidly reaching a species-specific body size, and reproduce at a high rate, which in turn imposes constraints on the evolution of egg sizes. In combination, these distinct selection pressures result in different relationships between egg and body size among species in time-constrained versus permanent habitats.
Data from: Allometry of wing twist and camber in a flower chafer during free flight: how do wing deformations scale with body size?
Intraspecific variation in adult body mass can be particularly high in some insect species, mandating adjustment of the wing's structural properties to support the weight of the larger body mass in air. Insect wings elastically deform during flapping, dynamically changing the twist and camber of the relatively thin and flat aerofoil. We examined how wing deformations during free flight scale with body mass within a species of rose chafers (Coleoptera: Protaetia cuprea) in which individuals varied more than threefold in body mass (0.38–1.29 g). Beetles taking off voluntarily were filmed using three high-speed cameras and the instantaneous deformation of their wings during the flapping cycle was analysed. Flapping frequency decreased in larger beetles but, otherwise, flapping kinematics remained similar in both small and large beetles. Deflection of the wing chord-wise varied along the span, with average deflections at the proximal trailing edge higher by 0.2 and 0.197 wing lengths compared to the distal trailing edge in the downstroke and the upstroke, respectively. These deflections scaled with wing chord to the power of 1.0, implying a constant twist and camber despite the variations in wing and body size. This suggests that the allometric growth in wing size includes adjustment of the flexural stiffness of the wing structure to preserve wing twist and camber during flapping.
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