Context-dependent effects of relative temperature extremes on bill morphology in a songbird.

ABSTRACT: Species increasingly face environmental extremes. Morphological responses to changes in average environmental conditions are well documented, but responses to environmental extremes remain poorly understood. We used museum specimens to investigate relationships between a thermoregulatory morphological trait, bird bill surface area (SA) and a measure of short-term relative temperature extremity (RTE), which quantifies the degree that temperature maxima or minima diverge from the 5-year norm. Using a widespread, generalist species, Junco hyemalis, we found that SA exhibited different patterns of association with RTE depending on the overall temperature regime and on precipitation. While thermoregulatory function predicts larger SA at higher RTE, we found this only when the RTE existed

SUBMITTER: LaBarbera K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7211890 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature