Bergmann’s and Allen’s rules state that endotherms should be larger and have shorter appendages in cooler climates. However, the drivers of these rules are not clear. Both rules could be explained by adaptation for improved thermoregulation, including plastic responses to temperature in early life.

Our study has just been published in Nature Communications here:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32108-3

Non-thermal explanations are also plausible as climate impacts other factors that influence size and shape, including starvation risk, predation risk, and foraging ecology. In this study, we assess the potential drivers of Bergmann’s and Allen’s rules in 30 shorebird species using extensive field data (>200,000 observations). We show birds in hot, tropical northern Australia have longer bills and smaller bodies than conspecifics in temperate, southern Australia, conforming with both ecogeographical rules.

This pattern is consistent across ecologically diverse species, including migratory birds that spend early life in the Arctic. Our findings best support the hypothesis that thermoregulatory adaptation to warm climates drives latitudinal patterns in shorebird size and shape.

Acknowledgements

Dr. Alexandra McQueen (Post-Doc at Deakin University) did most of the work on this manuscript. The Victorian Wader Study Group and the Australasian Water Studies Group were responsible for the 46 years worth of data collected that made this study possible. My thanks to Matt Symonds and Marcel Dekker for including me in this study, a result made possible from an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant.

Citation

McQueen A, Klaassen M, Tattersall GJ, Atkinson R, Jessop R, Hassell CJ, Christie M; Victorian Wader Study Group; Australasian Wader Studies Group, Symonds MRE.  2022. Thermal adaptation best explains Bergmann’s and Allen’s Rules across ecologically diverse shorebirds. Nat Commun 13, 4727. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32108-3