Global warming and Bergmann's rule: do central European passerines adjust their body size to rising temperatures?

ABSTRACT: Recent climate change has caused diverse ecological responses in plants and animals. However, relatively little is known about homeothermic animals' ability to adapt to changing temperature regimes through changes in body size, in accordance with Bergmann's rule. We used fluctuations in mean annual temperatures in south-west Germany since 1972 in order to look for direct links between temperature and two aspects of body size: body mass and flight feather length. Data from regionally born juveniles of 12 passerine bird species were analysed. Body mass and feather length varied significantly among years in eight and nine species, respectively. Typically the inter-annual changes in morphology were complexly non-linear, as was inter-annual variation in temperature. For six (body mass) and seve

SUBMITTER: Salewski V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2776161 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature