Body size predicts the rate of contemporary morphological change in birds

Variation in evolutionary rates among species is a defining characteristic of the tree of life and may be an important predictor of species' capacities to adapt to rapid environmental change. It is broadly assumed that generation length is an important determinant of microevolutionary rates, an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2023-05, Vol.120 (20), p.e2206971120-e2206971120
Main Authors: Zimova, Marketa, Weeks, Brian C, Willard, David E, Giery, Sean T, Jirinec, Vitek, Burner, Ryan C, Winger, Benjamin M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Physiological
Animals
Biological Evolution
Biological Sciences
Birds
Birds - physiology
Body size
Body Size - physiology
Breeding
Climate Change
Datasets
Environmental changes
Evolution
Migratory birds
Migratory species
Morphology
Population decline
Variation
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Summary:Variation in evolutionary rates among species is a defining characteristic of the tree of life and may be an important predictor of species' capacities to adapt to rapid environmental change. It is broadly assumed that generation length is an important determinant of microevolutionary rates, and body size is often used as a proxy for generation length. However, body size has myriad biological correlates that could affect evolutionary rates independently from generation length. We leverage two large, independently collected datasets on recent morphological change in birds (52 migratory species breeding in North America and 77 South American resident species) to test how body size and generation length are related to the rates of contemporary morphological change. Both datasets show that birds have declined in body size and increased in wing length over the past 40 y. We found, in both systems, a consistent pattern wherein smaller species declined proportionally faster in body size and increased proportionally faster in wing length. By contrast, generation length explained less variation in evolutionary rates than did body size. Although the mechanisms warrant further investigation, our study demonstrates that body size is an important predictor of contemporary variation in morphological rates of change. Given the correlations between body size and a breadth of morphological, physiological, and ecological traits predicted to mediate phenotypic responses to environmental change, the relationship between body size and rates of phenotypic change should be considered when testing hypotheses about variation in adaptive responses to climate change.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.2206971120