Higher temperatures during development reduce body size in the zebra finch in the laboratory and in the wild.

Item request has been placed! ×
Item request cannot be made. ×
loading   Processing Request
Read More Add to Saved list
  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Oxford University Press Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 8809954 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1420-9101 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 1010061X NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Evol Biol Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Publication: January 2024- : [Oxford] : Oxford University Press
      Original Publication: [Basel, Switzerland : Birkhäuser Verlag, c1988-
    • Subject Terms:
      Temperature*; Finches/*growth & development; Adaptation, Physiological ; Animals ; Body Size ; Climate ; Finches/anatomy & histology
    • Abstract:
      The most commonly documented morphological response across many taxa to climatic variation across their range follows Bergmann's rule, which predicts larger body size in colder climates. In observational data from wild zebra finches breeding across a range of temperatures in the spring and summer, we show that this relationship appears to be driven by the negative effect of high temperatures during development. This idea was then experimentally tested on zebra finches breeding in temperature-controlled climates in the laboratory. These experiments confirmed that those individualso produced in a hot environment (30 °C) were smaller than those produced in cool conditions (18 °C). Our results suggest a proximate causal link between temperature and body size and suggest that a hotter climate during breeding periods could drive significant changes in morphology within and between populations. This effect could account for much of the variation in body size that drives the well-observed patterns first described by Bergmann and that is still largely attributed to selection on adult body size during cold winters. The climate-dependent developmental plasticity that we have demonstrated is an important component in understanding how endotherms may be affected by climate change.
      (© 2017 European Society For Evolutionary Biology. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2017 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.)
    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: Taeniopygia guttata; Bergmann's rule; morphology; phenotypic plasticity
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20171005 Date Completed: 20180131 Latest Revision: 20180131
    • Publication Date:
      20250114
    • Accession Number:
      10.1111/jeb.13181
    • Accession Number:
      28976621