Adams Dean C, Church James O
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA.
Evolution. 2008 Feb;62(2):413-20. doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2007.00297.x. Epub 2007 Nov 12.
The tendency for organisms to be larger in cooler climates (Bergmann's rule) is widely observed in endotherms, and has been reputed to apply to some ectotherms including amphibians. However, recent reports provide conflicting support for the pattern, questioning whether Bergmann's clines are generally present in amphibians. In this study, we measured 96,996 adult Plethodon from 3974 populations to test for the presence of Bergmann's clines in these salamanders. Only three Plethodon species exhibited a significant negative correlation between body size and temperature consistent with Bergmann's rule, whereas 37 of 40 species did not display a pattern consistent with this prediction. Further, a phylogenetic comparative analysis found no relationship between body size and temperature among species. A meta-analysis combining our data with the available data for other amphibian species revealed no support for Bergmann's rule at the genus (Plethodon), order (Caudata), or class (Amphibia) levels. Our findings strongly suggest that negative thermal body size clines are not common in amphibians, and we conclude that Bergmann's rule is not generally applicable to these taxa. Thus, evolutionary explanations of Bergmann's clines in other tetrapods need not account for unique life-history attributes of amphibians.
在恒温动物中,生物在较寒冷气候下体型更大的趋势(伯格曼法则)被广泛观察到,并且据认为也适用于包括两栖动物在内的一些变温动物。然而,最近的报告对这一模式提供了相互矛盾的支持,质疑伯格曼梯度是否普遍存在于两栖动物中。在本研究中,我们测量了来自3974个种群的96996只成年东美螈,以测试这些蝾螈中伯格曼梯度的存在情况。只有三种东美螈物种表现出与伯格曼法则一致的体型与温度之间的显著负相关,而40种物种中的37种并未表现出与这一预测相符的模式。此外,系统发育比较分析发现物种间的体型与温度之间没有关系。一项将我们的数据与其他两栖动物物种的现有数据相结合的荟萃分析表明,在属(东美螈属)、目(有尾目)或纲(两栖纲)水平上均不支持伯格曼法则。我们的研究结果强烈表明,负热体型梯度在两栖动物中并不常见,并且我们得出结论,伯格曼法则通常不适用于这些分类群。因此,对其他四足动物中伯格曼梯度的进化解释无需考虑两栖动物独特的生活史特征。