Spatial variation in avian bill size is associated with temperature extremes in a major radiation of Australian passerines - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Année : 2024

Spatial variation in avian bill size is associated with temperature extremes in a major radiation of Australian passerines

Résumé

Morphology is integral to body temperature regulation. Recent advances in understanding of thermal physiology suggest a role of the avian bill in thermoregulation. To explore the adaptive significance of bill size for thermoregulation we characterized relationships between bill size and climate extremes. Most previous studies focused on climate means, ignoring frequencies of extremes, and do not reflect thermoregulatory costs experienced over shorter time scales. Using 79 species (9847 museum specimens), we explore how bill size variation is associated with temperature extremes in a large and diverse radiation of Australasian birds, Meliphagides, testing a series of predictions. Overall, across the continent, bill size variation was associated with both climate extremes and means and was most strongly associated with winter temperatures; associations at the level of climate zones differed from continent-wide associations and were complex, yet consistent with physiology and a thermoregulatory role for avian bills. Responses to high summer temperatures were nonlinear suggesting they may be difficult to detect in large-scale continental analyses using previous methodologies. We provide strong evidence that climate extremes have contributed to the evolution of bill morphology in relation to thermoregulation and show the importance of including extremes to understand fine-scale trait variation across space.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
Subasinghe.etal.spatial.final_SIFig.pdf (1.79 Mo) Télécharger le fichier
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)
Licence : CC BY - Paternité

Dates et versions

hal-04414033 , version 1 (24-01-2024)

Licence

Paternité

Identifiants

Citer

Kalya Subasinghe, Matthew Symonds, Suzanne Prober, Timothée Bonnet, Kristen Williams, et al.. Spatial variation in avian bill size is associated with temperature extremes in a major radiation of Australian passerines. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2024, 291 (2015), ⟨10.1098/rspb.2023.2480⟩. ⟨hal-04414033⟩
19 Consultations
5 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More