The importance of phylogenetic scale in tests of Bergmann's and Rapoport's rules: lessons from a clade of South American lizards

We tested for the occurrence of Bergmann's rule, the pattern of increasing body size with latitude, and Rapoport's rule, the positive relationship between geographical range size and latitude, in 34 lineages of Liolaemus lizards that occupy arid regions of the Andean foothills. We tested t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of evolutionary biology 2005-11, Vol.18 (6), p.1559-1574
Main Authors: CRUZ, F. B., FITZGERALD, L. A., ESPINOZA, R. E., SCHULTE II, J. A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Biological - physiology
Animals
Base Sequence
Bergmann's rule
Body Size
climatic‐variability hypothesis
Demography
Genetics
Geography
Lacertilia
Likelihood Functions
Liolaemus
Liolaemus lizards
Lizards - anatomy & histology
Lizards - genetics
Lizards - physiology
Models, Biological
Models, Genetic
Molecular Sequence Data
Phylogeny
Rapoport's rule
Reptiles & amphibians
Sequence Analysis, DNA
South America
Species Specificity
Temperature
thermal tolerance
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Summary:We tested for the occurrence of Bergmann's rule, the pattern of increasing body size with latitude, and Rapoport's rule, the positive relationship between geographical range size and latitude, in 34 lineages of Liolaemus lizards that occupy arid regions of the Andean foothills. We tested the climatic‐variability hypothesis (CVH) by examining the relationship between thermal tolerance breadth and distribution. Each of these analyses was performed varying the level of phylogenetic inclusiveness. Bergmann's rule and the CVH were supported, but Rapoport's rule was not. More variance in the data for Bergmann's rule and the CVH was explained using species belonging to the L. boulengeri series rather than all species, and inclusion of multiple outgroups tended to obscure these macroecological patterns. Evidence for Bergmann's rule and the predicted patterns from the CVH remained after application of phylogenetic comparative methods, indicating a greater role of ecological processes rather than phylogeny in shaping the current species distributions of these lizards.
ISSN:1010-061X
1420-9101
DOI:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2005.00936.x