Work

Glacial cycles promote greater dispersal, which can help explain larger clutch sizes, in north temperate birds

Year: 2009

Type: preprint

Abstract: Earth’s glacial history and patterns in the life history traits of the planet’s avifauna suggest the following interpretations of how recent geological history has affected these key characteristics of the biota: 1) Increased colonizing ability has been an important advantage of increased dispersal, and life history strategies are better categorized by dispersive colonizing ability than by their intrinsic growth rates; 2) Birds of the North Temperate Zone show a greater tendency to disperse, and they disperse farther, than tropical or south temperate birds; 3) Habitat changes associated with glacial advance and retreat selected for high dispersal ability, particularly in the North; and 4) Selection for greater dispersal throughout the unstable Pleistocene has also resulted in other well-recognized life history contrasts, especially larger clutch sizes in birds of North Temperate areas.

Source: Nature Precedings

DOI: 10.1038/npre.2009.2911.1

Authors: David Winkler, Russell Greenberg, Thomas Martin, Frederick Adler, Samuel Flaxman