Research Unit of Biodiversity (UMIB, UO-CSIC-PA), Oviedo University - Campus Mieres, 33600, Mieres, Spain.
Institut für Organismische und Molekulare Evolutionsbiologie, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, 55099, Mainz, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2019 Nov 6;9(1):16082. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-52483-0.
In endotherm animals, several traits are related to climate. For example, Bergmann's rule predicts a decrease in body size within species and across closely related species with increasing temperature, whereas Gloger's rule states that birds and mammals should be darker in humid and warm environments compared to colder and drier areas. However, it is still not clear whether ecotypic responses to variation in the local environment can also apply to morphological and colouration changes through time in response to climate change. We present a 100-year-long time series on morphological and melanin-based colours of snowfinch (325 Montifringilla, 92 Pyrgilauda and 30 Onychostruthus) museum specimens. Here we show that the tarsus length of the species has decreased and the saturation of the melanin-based colour has increased, which was correlated with the increase of temperature and precipitations. As ecotypic variations are tightly linked to individual behavioural and physiological responses to environmental variations, differently sized and coloured individuals are expected to be differently penalized by global changes. This study opens the pertinent question about whether ecotypic responses can enhance population persistence in the context of global change.
在恒温动物中，有几个特征与气候有关。例如，伯格曼法则预测，随着温度的升高，物种内和密切相关的物种的体型会变小，而格洛格法则则表明，与寒冷和干燥地区相比，鸟类和哺乳动物在潮湿和温暖的环境中应该颜色更深。然而，目前还不清楚对当地环境的生态型响应是否也适用于形态和颜色随时间的变化，以应对气候变化。我们提供了一个长达 100 年的雪雀（325 只 Montifringilla、92 只 Pyrgilauda 和 30 只 Onychostruthus）博物馆标本的形态和基于黑色素的颜色的时间序列。在这里，我们表明，物种的跗跖长度已经减少，基于黑色素的颜色的饱和度增加，这与温度和降水的增加有关。由于生态型的变化与个体对环境变化的行为和生理反应紧密相关，因此预计大小和颜色不同的个体将因全球变化而受到不同程度的惩罚。这项研究提出了一个相关的问题，即在全球变化的背景下，生态型的响应是否可以增强种群的持久性。
