Climatic variability and body size variation in the muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) of North America

Oecologia ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark S. Boyce
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
North America ◽  
Climatic Variability ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Ondatra Zibethicus ◽  
Body Size Variation

scholarly journals Testing Equid Body Mass Estimate Equations on Modern Zebras—With Implications to Understanding the Relationship of Body Size, Diet, and Habitats of Equus in the Pleistocene of Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juha Saarinen ◽  
Omar Cirilli ◽  
Flavia Strani ◽  
Keiko Meshida ◽  
Raymond L. Bernor
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
North America ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Mass Range ◽  
The Body ◽  
Mass Estimation ◽  
Body Size Variation ◽  
Estimation Equations ◽  
Body Mass Estimation

The monodactyl horses of the genus Equus originated in North America during the Pliocene, and from the beginning of the Pleistocene, they have been an essential part of the large ungulate communities of Europe, North America and Africa. Understanding how body size of Equus species evolved and varied in relation to changes in environments and diet thus forms an important part of understanding the dynamics of ungulate body size variation in relation to Pleistocene paleoenvironmental changes. Here we test previously published body mass estimation equations for the family Equidae by investigating how accurately different skeletal and dental measurements estimate the mean body mass (and body mass range) reported for extant Grevy's zebra (Equus grevyi) and Burchell's zebra (Equus quagga). Based on these tests and information on how frequently skeletal elements occur in the fossil record, we construct a hierarchy of best practices for the selection of body mass estimation equations in Equus. As a case study, we explore body size variation in Pleistocene European Equus paleopopulations in relation to diet and vegetation structure in their paleoenvironments. We show a relationship between diet and body size in Equus: very large-sized species tend to have more browse-dominated diets than small and medium-sized species, and paleovegetation proxies indicate on average more open and grass-rich paleoenvironments for small-sized, grazing species of Equus. When more than one species of Equus co-occur sympatrically, the larger species tend to be less abundant and have more browse-dominated diets than the smaller species. We suggest that body size variation in Pleistocene Equus was driven by a combined effect of resource quality and availability, partitioning of habitats and resources between species, and the effect of environmental openness and group size on the body size of individuals.

scholarly journals Mammalian body size is determined by interactions between climate, urbanization, and ecological traits

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maggie M. Hantak ◽  
Bryan S. McLean ◽  
Daijiang Li ◽  
Robert P. Guralnick
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Resource Availability ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Body Size Variation ◽  
Resource Availability Hypothesis ◽  
Urban Heat ◽  
Thermal Buffering

AbstractAnthropogenically-driven climate warming is a hypothesized driver of animal body size reductions. Less understood are effects of other human-caused disturbances on body size, such as urbanization. We compiled 140,499 body size records of over 100 North American mammals to test how climate and human population density, a proxy for urbanization, and their interactions with species traits, impact body size. We tested three hypotheses of body size variation across urbanization gradients: urban heat island effects, habitat fragmentation, and resource availability. Our results demonstrate that both urbanization and temperature influence mammalian body size variation, most often leading to larger individuals, thus supporting the resource availability hypothesis. In addition, life history and other ecological factors play a critical role in mediating the effects of climate and urbanization on body size. Larger mammals and species that utilize thermal buffering are more sensitive to warmer temperatures, while flexibility in activity time appears to be advantageous in urbanized areas. This work highlights the value of using digitized, natural history data to track how human disturbance drives morphological variation.

scholarly journals The role of local versus biogeographical processes in influencing diversity and body‐size variation in mammal assemblages

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 1447-1456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luiz Carlos S. Lopez ◽  
Marcos S. L. Figueiredo ◽  
Maria Paula de Aguiar Fracasso ◽  
Daniel Oliveira Mesquita ◽  
Ulisses Umbelino Anjos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Body Size Variation ◽  
Mammal Assemblages

scholarly journals Insights into body size variation in cetaceans from the evolution of body-size-related genes

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingying Sun ◽  
Yanzhi Liu ◽  
Xiaohui Sun ◽  
Yurui Lin ◽  
Daiqing Yin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Body Size Variation

Geographic variation in body size and sexual size dimorphism of North American Ratsnakes (Pantherophis spp. s.l.)

2018 ◽  
Vol 96 (11) ◽  
pp. 1196-1202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brett A. DeGregorio ◽  
Gabriel Blouin-Demers ◽  
Gerardo L.F. Carfagno ◽  
J. Whitfield Gibbons ◽  
Stephen J. Mullin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Sexual Size Dimorphism ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Sexually Dimorphic ◽  
Male Body ◽  
Complex Species ◽  
Size Dimorphism ◽  
Body Size Variation ◽  
Female Body Size

Because body size affects nearly all facets of an organism’s life history, ecologists have long been interested in large-scale patterns of body-size variation, as well as why those large-scale patterns often differ between sexes. We explored body-size variation across the range of the sexually dimorphic Ratsnake complex (species of the genus Pantherophis Fitzinger, 1843 s.l.; formerly Elaphe obsoleta (Say in James, 1823)) in North America. We specifically explored whether variation in body size followed latitudinal patterns or varied with climatic variables. We found that body size did not conform to a climatic or latitudinal gradient, but instead, some of the populations with the largest snakes occurred near the core of the geographic range and some with the smallest occurred near the northern, western, and southern peripheries of the range. Males averaged 14% larger than females, although the degree of sexual size dimorphism varied between populations (range: 2%–25%). There was a weak trend for male body size to change in relation to temperature, whereas female body size did not. Our results indicate that relationships between climate and an ectotherm’s body size are more complicated than linear latitudinal clines and likely differ for males and females.

scholarly journals Temperature‐driven color lightness and body size variation scale to local assemblages of European Odonata but are modified by propensity for dispersal

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (16) ◽  
pp. 8936-8948
Author(s):  
Daniel Acquah‐Lamptey ◽  
Martin Brändle ◽  
Roland Brandl ◽  
Stefan Pinkert
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Body Size Variation

Effects of latitude and allopatry on body size variation in European water shrews

2008 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boris Kryštufek ◽  
Aila Quadracci
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Body Size Variation ◽  
European Water

scholarly journals New footprints from Laetoli (Tanzania) provide evidence for marked body size variation in early hominins

eLife ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fidelis T Masao ◽  
Elgidius B Ichumbaki ◽  
Marco Cherin ◽  
Angelo Barili ◽  
Giovanni Boschian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Australopithecus Afarensis ◽  
Body Size Variation ◽  
Northern Tanzania ◽  
The World ◽  
Marked Body ◽  
Considerable Body

Laetoli is a well-known palaeontological locality in northern Tanzania whose outstanding record includes the earliest hominin footprints in the world (3.66 million years old), discovered in 1978 at Site G and attributed to Australopithecus afarensis. Here, we report hominin tracks unearthed in the new Site S at Laetoli and referred to two bipedal individuals (S1 and S2) moving on the same palaeosurface and in the same direction as the three hominins documented at Site G. The stature estimates for S1 greatly exceed those previously reconstructed for Au. afarensis from both skeletal material and footprint data. In combination with a comparative reappraisal of the Site G footprints, the evidence collected here embodies very important additions to the Pliocene record of hominin behaviour and morphology. Our results are consistent with considerable body size variation and, probably, degree of sexual dimorphism within a single species of bipedal hominins as early as 3.66 million years ago.

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