Bergmann's rule is an ecogeographical rule that states that, within a broadly distributed taxonomic clade, populations and species of larger size are found in colder environments, while populations and species of smaller size are found in warmer regions. The rule derives from the relationship between size in linear dimensions meaning that both height and volume will increase in colder environments. Bergmann's rule only describes the overall size of the animals, but does not include body proportions like Allen's rule does.
Although originally formulated in relation to species within a genus, it has often been recast in relation to populations within a species. It is also often cast in relation to latitude. It is possible that the rule also applies to some plants, such as Rapicactus .
The rule is named after nineteenth century German biologist Carl Bergmann, who described the pattern in 1847, although he was not the first to notice it. Bergmann's rule is most often applied to mammals and birds which are endotherms, but some researchers have also found evidence for the rule in studies of ectothermic species, [2] [3] such as the ant Leptothorax acervorum . While Bergmann's rule appears to hold true for many mammals and birds, there are exceptions. [4] [5] [6]
Larger-bodied animals tend to conform more closely to Bergmann's rule than smaller-bodied animals, at least up to certain latitudes. This perhaps reflects a reduced ability to avoid stressful environments, such as by burrowing. [7] In addition to being a general pattern across space, Bergmann's rule has been reported in populations over historical and evolutionary time when exposed to varying thermal regimes. [8] [9] [10] In particular, temporary, reversible dwarfing of mammals has been noted during two relatively brief upward excursions in temperature during the Paleogene: the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum [11] and the Eocene Thermal Maximum 2. [12]
Human populations near the poles, including the Inuit, Aleut, and Sami people, are on average heavier than populations from mid-latitudes, consistent with Bergmann's rule. [14] They also tend to have shorter limbs and broader trunks, consistent with Allen's rule. [14] According to Marshall T. Newman in 1953, Native American populations are generally consistent with Bergmann's rule although the cold climate and small body size combination of the Eastern Inuit, Canoe Nation, Yuki people, Andes natives and Harrison Lake Lillooet runs contrary to the expectations of Bergmann's rule. [15] Newman contends that Bergmann's rule holds for the populations of Eurasia, but it does not hold for those of sub-Saharan Africa. [15]
Human populations also show a decrease in stature with an increase in mean annual temperature. [16] Bergmann's rule holds for Africans with the pygmy phenotype and other pygmy peoples. These populations show a shorter stature and smaller body size due to an adaptation to hotter and more humid environments. [17] With elevated environmental humidity, evaporative cooling (sweating) is a less effective way to dissipate body heat, but a higher surface area to volume ratio should provide a slight advantage through passive convective heat loss.
A 2019 study of changes in the morphology of migratory birds used bodies of birds which had collided with buildings in Chicago from 1978 to 2016. The length of birds' lower leg bones (an indicator of body size) shortened by an average of 2.4% and their wings lengthened by 1.3%. A similar study published in 2021 used measurements of 77 nonmigratory bird species captured live for banding in lowland Amazon rainforest. Between 1979 and 2019, all study species have gotten smaller on average, by up to 2% per decade. The morphological changes are regarded as resulting from global warming, and may demonstrate an example of evolutionary change following Bergmann's rule. [18] [19] [20] [21]
Bergmann's rule has been reported to be vaguely followed by female crocodilians. [22] [23] However, for turtles [24] or lizards [25] the rule's validity has not been supported.
Evidence of Bergmann's rule has been found in marine copepods. [26]
Bergmann's rule cannot generally be applied to plants. [27] Regarding Cactaceae, the case of the saguaro ( Carnegiea gigantea ), once described as "a botanical Bergmann trend", [28] has instead been shown to depend on rainfall, particularly winter precipitation, and not temperature. [29] Members of the genus Rapicactus are larger in cooler environments, as their stem diameter increases with altitude and particularly with latitude. However, since Rapicactus grow in a distributional area in which average precipitation tends to diminish at higher latitudes, and their body size is not conditioned by climatic variables, this could suggest a possible Bergmann trend. [30]
The earliest explanation, given by Bergmann when originally formulating the rule, is that larger animals have a lower surface area to volume ratio than smaller animals, so they radiate less body heat per unit of mass, and therefore stay warmer in cold climates. Warmer climates impose the opposite problem: body heat generated by metabolism needs to be dissipated quickly rather than stored within. [31]
Thus, the higher surface area-to-volume ratio of smaller animals in hot and dry climates facilitates heat loss through the skin and helps cool the body. It is important to note that when analyzing Bergmann's Rule in the field that groups of populations being studied are of different thermal environments, and also have been separated long enough to genetically differentiate in response to these thermal conditions. [31] The relationship between stature and mean annual temperature can be explained by modeling any shape that is increasing in any dimension. As you increase the height of a shape, its surface area-to-volume ratio will decrease. Modeling a person's trunk and limbs as cylinders shows a 17% decrease in surface area-to-volume ratio from a person who is five feet tall to a person who is six feet tall even at the same body mass index (BMI).
In marine crustaceans, it has been proposed that an increase in size with latitude is observed because decreasing temperature results in increased cell size and increased life span, both of which lead to an increase in maximum body size (continued growth throughout life is characteristic of crustaceans). [3] The size trend has been observed in hyperiid and gammarid amphipods, copepods, stomatopods, mysids, and planktonic euphausiids, both in comparisons of related species as well as within widely distributed species. [3] Deep-sea gigantism is observed in some of the same groups, possibly for the same reasons. [3] An additional factor in aquatic species may be the greater dissolved oxygen concentration at lower temperature. This view is supported by the reduced size of crustaceans in high-altitude lakes. [32] A further possible influence on invertebrates is reduced predation pressure at high latitude. [33] A study of shallow water brachiopods found that predation was reduced in polar areas relative to temperate latitudes (the same trend was not found in deep water, where predation is also reduced, or in comparison of tropical and temperate brachiopods, perhaps because tropical brachiopods have evolved to smaller sizes to successfully evade predation). [33]
In 1937 German zoologist and ecologist Richard Hesse proposed an extension of Bergmann's rule. Hesse's rule, also known as the heart–weight rule, states that species inhabiting colder climates have a larger heart in relation to body weight than closely related species inhabiting warmer climates. [34]
In a 1986 study, Valerius Geist claimed Bergmann's rule to be false: the correlation with temperature is spurious; instead, Geist found that body size is proportional to the duration of the annual productivity pulse, or food availability per animal during the growing season. [35]
Because many factors can affect body size, there are many critics of Bergmann's rule. Some[ who? ] believe that latitude itself is a poor predictor of body mass. Examples of other selective factors that may contribute to body mass changes are the size of food items available, effects of body size on success as a predator, effects of body size on vulnerability to predation, and resource availability. For example, if an organism is adapted to tolerate cold temperatures, it may also tolerate periods of food shortage, due to correlation between cold temperature and food scarcity. [5] A larger organism can rely on its greater fat stores to provide the energy needed for survival as well being able to procreate for longer periods.
Resource availability is a major constraint on the overall success of many organisms. Resource scarcity can limit the total number of organisms in a habitat, and over time can also cause organisms to adapt by becoming smaller in body size. Resource availability thus becomes a modifying restraint on Bergmann's Rule. [36]
Some examinations of the fossil record have found contradictions to the rule. For example, during the Pleistocene, hippopotamuses in Europe tended to get smaller during colder and drier intervals. [37] Further, a 2024 study found the size of dinosaurs did not increase at northern Arctic latitudes, and that the rule was "only applicable to a subset of homeothermic animals" with regard to temperature when all other climatic variables are ignored. [38]
Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic depression undergone by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy characterized by low body-temperature, slow breathing and heart-rate, and low metabolic rate. It is most commonly used to pass through winter months–the so-called overwintering.
In zoology, megafauna are large animals. The precise definition of the term varies widely, though a common threshold is approximately 45 kilograms (99 lb), with other thresholds as low as 10 kilograms (22 lb) or as high as 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lb). Large body size is generally associated with other traits, such as having a slow rate of reproduction, and in large herbivores, reduced or negligible adult mortality from being killed by predators.
The metabolic theory of ecology (MTE) is the ecological component of the more general Metabolic Scaling Theory and Kleiber's law. It posits that the metabolic rate of organisms is the fundamental biological rate that governs most observed patterns in ecology. MTE is part of a larger set of theory known as metabolic scaling theory that attempts to provide a unified theory for the importance of metabolism in driving pattern and process in biology from the level of cells all the way to the biosphere.
Allen's rule is an ecogeographical rule formulated by Joel Asaph Allen in 1877, broadly stating that animals adapted to cold climates have shorter and thicker limbs and bodily appendages than animals adapted to warm climates. More specifically, it states that the body surface-area-to-volume ratio for homeothermic animals varies with the average temperature of the habitat to which they are adapted.
Foster's rule, also known as the island rule or the island effect, is an ecogeographical rule in evolutionary biology stating that members of a species get smaller or bigger depending on the resources available in the environment. For example, it is known that pygmy mammoths evolved from normal mammoths on small islands. Similar evolutionary paths have been observed in elephants, hippopotamuses, boas, sloths, deer and humans. It is part of the more general phenomenon of island syndrome which describes the differences in morphology, ecology, physiology and behaviour of insular species compared to their continental counterparts.
Rapoport's rule is an ecogeographical rule that states that latitudinal ranges of plants and animals are generally smaller at lower latitudes than at higher latitudes.
Island gigantism, or insular gigantism, is a biological phenomenon in which the size of an animal species isolated on an island increases dramatically in comparison to its mainland relatives. Island gigantism is one aspect of the more general "island effect" or "Foster's rule", which posits that when mainland animals colonize islands, small species tend to evolve larger bodies, and large species tend to evolve smaller bodies. This is itself one aspect of the more general phenomenon of island syndrome which describes the differences in morphology, ecology, physiology and behaviour of insular species compared to their continental counterparts. Following the arrival of humans and associated introduced predators, many giant as well as other island endemics have become extinct. A similar size increase, as well as increased woodiness, has been observed in some insular plants such as the Mapou tree in Mauritius which is also known as the "Mauritian baobab" although it is member of the grape family (Vitaceae).
Climatic adaptation refers to adaptations of an organism that are triggered due to the patterns of variation of abiotic factors that determine a specific climate. Annual means, seasonal variation and daily patterns of abiotic factors are properties of a climate where organisms can be adapted to. Changes in behavior, physical structure, internal mechanisms and metabolism are forms of adaptation that is caused by climate properties. Organisms of the same species that occur in different climates can be compared to determine which adaptations are due to climate and which are influenced majorly by other factors. Climatic adaptations limits to adaptations that have been established, characterizing species that live within the specific climate. It is different from climate change adaptations which refers to the ability to adapt to gradual changes of a climate. Once a climate has changed, the climate change adaptation that led to the survival of the specific organisms as a species can be seen as a climatic adaptation. Climatic adaptation is constrained by the genetic variability of the species in question.
Species richness, or biodiversity, increases from the poles to the tropics for a wide variety of terrestrial and marine organisms, often referred to as the latitudinal diversity gradient. The latitudinal diversity gradient is one of the most widely recognized patterns in ecology. It has been observed to varying degrees in Earth's past. A parallel trend has been found with elevation, though this is less well-studied.
Thorson's rule is an ecogeographical rule which states that benthic marine invertebrates at low latitudes tend to produce large numbers of eggs developing to pelagic and widely dispersing larvae, whereas at high latitudes such organisms tend to produce fewer and larger lecithotrophic (yolk-feeding) eggs and larger offspring, often by viviparity or ovoviviparity, which are often brooded.
The physiology of dinosaurs has historically been a controversial subject, particularly their thermoregulation. Recently, many new lines of evidence have been brought to bear on dinosaur physiology generally, including not only metabolic systems and thermoregulation, but on respiratory and cardiovascular systems as well.
There are several plausible pathways that could lead to an increased extinction risk from climate change. Every plant and animal species has evolved to exist within a certain ecological niche. But climate change leads to changes of temperature and average weather patterns. These changes can push climatic conditions outside of the species' niche, and ultimately render it extinct. Normally, species faced with changing conditions can either adapt in place through microevolution or move to another habitat with suitable conditions. However, the speed of recent climate change is very fast. Due to this rapid change, for example cold-blooded animals may struggle to find a suitable habitat within 50 km of their current location at the end of this century.
Clutch size refers to the number of eggs laid in a single brood by a nesting pair of birds. The numbers laid by a particular species in a given location are usually well defined by evolutionary trade-offs with many factors involved, including resource availability and energetic constraints. Several patterns of variation have been noted and the relationship between latitude and clutch size has been a topic of interest in avian reproduction and evolution. David Lack and R.E. Moreau were among the first to investigate the effect of latitude on the number of eggs per nest. Since Lack's first paper in the mid-1940s there has been extensive research on the pattern of increasing clutch size with increasing latitude. The proximate and ultimate causes for this pattern have been a subject of intense debate involving the development of ideas on group, individual, and gene-centric views of selection.
Fecundity selection, also known as fertility selection, is the fitness advantage resulting from selection on traits that increases the number of offspring. Charles Darwin formulated the theory of fecundity selection between 1871 and 1874 to explain the widespread evolution of female-biased sexual size dimorphism (SSD), where females were larger than males.
A biological rule or biological law is a generalized law, principle, or rule of thumb formulated to describe patterns observed in living organisms. Biological rules and laws are often developed as succinct, broadly applicable ways to explain complex phenomena or salient observations about the ecology and biogeographical distributions of plant and animal species around the world, though they have been proposed for or extended to all types of organisms. Many of these regularities of ecology and biogeography are named after the biologists who first described them.
Cold and heat adaptations in humans are a part of the broad adaptability of Homo sapiens. Adaptations in humans can be physiological, genetic, or cultural, which allow people to live in a wide variety of climates. There has been a great deal of research done on developmental adjustment, acclimatization, and cultural practices, but less research on genetic adaptations to colder and hotter temperatures.
The temperature-size rule denotes the plastic response of organismal body size to environmental temperature variation. Organisms exhibiting a plastic response are capable of allowing their body size to fluctuate with environmental temperature. First coined by David Atkinson in 1996, it is considered to be a unique case of Bergmann's rule that has been observed in plants, animals, birds, and a wide variety of ectotherms. Although exceptions to the temperature-size rule exist, recognition of this widespread "rule" has amassed efforts to understand the physiological mechanisms underlying growth and body size variation in differing environmental temperatures.
Sunning or basking, sometimes also known as sunbathing, is a thermoregulatory or comfort behaviour used by humans, animals, especially birds, reptiles, and insects, to help raise their body temperature, reduce the energy needed for temperature maintenance or to provide comfort. They may also have additional functions of ridding animals of ectoparasites, bacteria, or excess moisture.
Thermal ecology is the study of the interactions between temperature and organisms. Such interactions include the effects of temperature on an organism's physiology, behavioral patterns, and relationship with its environment. While being warmer is usually associated with greater fitness, maintaining this level of heat costs a significant amount of energy. Organisms will make various trade-offs so that they can continue to operate at their preferred temperatures and optimize metabolic functions. With the emergence of climate change scientists are investigating how species will be affected and what changes they will undergo in response.
Significant work has gone into analyzing the effects of climate change on birds. Like other animal groups, birds are affected by anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change. The research includes tracking the changes in species' life cycles over decades in response to the changing world, evaluating the role of differing evolutionary pressures and even comparing museum specimens with modern birds to track changes in appearance and body structure. Predictions of range shifts caused by the direct and indirect impacts of climate change on bird species are amongst the most important, as they are crucial for informing animal conservation work, required to minimize extinction risk from climate change.