Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Climate change

Smaller birds with warmer temperatures

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 6, pages 1804–1805 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Measurements of individual birds of 105 species across North America over almost twenty years reveal intraspecific trends of smaller body sizes towards the equator and of decreasing body size as average temperatures increase.

Anthropogenic climate change is happening at a rapid pace, and understanding how species adapt, or not, is a fundamental goal for ecologists. Global warming is driving changes in many species’ ecological responses, such as timings of migration, moult and reproduction1,2. It may also induce changes to species morphology; for example, a decrease in species’ body sizes as temperatures increase3,4. This hypothesis stems from Bergmann’s rule, a long-standing ecological theory that predicts that species will have smaller body sizes in warmer climates than in colder climates. Smaller-bodied organisms have a higher surface area-to-volume ratio, meaning heat is lost more easily — a useful adaptation in hotter or warming environments. Writing in Nature Ecology & Evolution, Youngflesh et al.5 present strong evidence that warmer temperatures are associated with smaller body sizes of birds closer to the equator and that recent warming is driving declines in bird body masses across North America.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Checking the moult and working out the age of a gray catbird (Dumetella carolinensis).

United States National Park Service, public domain.

References

  1. Gill, J. A. et al. Proc. R. Soc. B 281, 20132161 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Tomotani, B. M. et al. Glob. Chang. Biol. 24, 823–835 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Teplitsky, C., Mills, J. A., Alho, J. S., Yarrall, J. W. & Merilä, J. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 105, 13492–13496 (2008).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Gardner, J. L., Peters, A., Kearney, M. R., Joseph, L. & Heinsohn, R. Trends Ecol. Evol. 26, 285–291 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Youngflesh, C., Saracco, J. F., Siegel, R. B. & Tingley, M. W. Nat. Ecol. Evol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01893-x (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Hughes, E. C. et al. Ecol. Lett. 25, 598–610 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Tobias, J. A. et al. Ecol. Lett. 25, 581–597 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Shine, R. Q. Rev. Biol. 64, 419–461 (1989).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Dubiner, S. & Meiri, S. Glob. Ecol. Biogeogr. 31, 791–801 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Jirinec, V. et al. Sci. Adv. 7, eabk1743 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Weeks, B. C. et al. Ecol. Lett. 23, 316–325 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Parmesan, C. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst. 37, 637–669 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Bonamour, S., Chevin, L. M., Charmantier, A. & Teplitsky, C. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 374, 20180178 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Bellard, C., Bertelsmeier, C., Leadley, P., Thuiller, W. & Courchamp, F. Ecol. Lett. 15, 365–377 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  15. Hickling, R., Roy, D. B., Hill, J. K., Fox, R. & Thomas, C. D. Glob. Change Biol. 12, 450–455 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Forero-Medina, G., Joppa, L. & Pimm, S. L. Conserv. Biol. 25, 163–171 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Peters, R. H. The Ecological Implications of Body Size (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1983).

  18. Berg, M. P. & Ellers, J. Evol. Ecol. 24, 617–629 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Emma C. Hughes

  2. Bird Group, Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Tring, UK

    Emma C. Hughes

  3. Macroevolution and Macroecology Group, Fenner School of Environment & Society, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

    Alex Slavenko

Authors
  1. Emma C. Hughes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alex Slavenko
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Emma C. Hughes or Alex Slavenko.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hughes, E.C., Slavenko, A. Smaller birds with warmer temperatures. Nat Ecol Evol 6, 1804–1805 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01897-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01897-7

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing