Climatic change and body size in two species of Japanese rodents

Yom‐Tov, Yoram; Yom‐Tov, Shlomith

doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.2004.00357.x

Cited by 72 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Accordingly, they mostly have been excluded from community paleoecological analyses (Eronen 2006;Mendoza et al 2005;Palmqvist et al 2003;Reed 1997Reed , 1998. Given that climate change can result in rapid body mass changes in rodents (Millien and Damuth 2004;Smith et al 1998;Yom-Tov and Yom-Tov 2004) and in the structure of small mammal communities (Blois et al 2010), such exclusions might not be warranted. Stable isotope studies of tooth enamel have neglected all but some of the largest rodents; until the relatively recent advent of microlaser sampling (Sharp and Cerling 1998), most rodent teeth were too small to provide sufficient material for bulk analysis of carbon isotopes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Incisor morphology reflects diet in caviomorph rodents

Croft¹,

Niemi²,

Franco³

2011

J Mammal

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Rodents are important components of most modern ecosystems. Understanding their roles in paleocommunities requires robust methods for inferring diet and other autecological characteristics. This pilot study tests whether a relationship between incisor morphology and diet exists among extant rodents that might be used to infer diets of extinct species. We focused on 11 genera of caviomorph rodents classified in 3 dietary categories: fruit-leaf, fruit-seed, and grass-leaf. For each genus 6 variables describing morphology of the upper incisor were measured on 5 specimens. Data were analyzed using a series of stepwise discriminant analyses. Discriminant analyses correctly predicted diets of nearly all training cases (,95%) using 4 incisor characteristics. Five additional species (1 caviomorph and 4 noncaviomorph), treated as unknowns, also were classified correctly. Jackknife analyses correctly predicted diets of approximately two-thirds of training cases. Our study indicates that incisor morphology is related to diet in extant caviomorph rodents. Incisor data therefore might be useful for inferring diets of extinct species.Key words: dentition, discriminant analysis, ecomorphology, herbivory, hystricognath, paleoecology, South America All modern rodents possess a pair of hypselodont, chisellike incisors in the upper and lower jaws (Landry 1999;Meng and Wyss 2005;Van Valen 2004). These enlarged teeth arguably are the most easily recognized characteristic of rodents, and it is for these gnawing teeth that rodents are named (from the Latin rodere, meaning to gnaw). In addition to their obvious role in food acquisition and processing, these gnawing incisors are used by some species for digging, defense, or cutting tough materials such as wood (Nowak 1999). Relative to their morphological prominence and functional importance in rodents, rodent incisors have been the focus of surprisingly little ecomorphological investigation. Most recent studies that have examined rodent incisors in an ecological context have attempted to correlate their morphology with digging behavior rather than diet (e.g., Fernández et al. 2000;Hopkins and Davis 2009;Millien and Jaeger 2001;Millien-Parra 2000;Mora et al. 2003;Rybczynski 1999). Other studies have focused on size evolution and guild partitioning among a small number of sympatric species using incisor data and have demonstrated character displacement indicative of dietary resource partitioning (Ben-Moshe et al. 2001; Dayan and Simberloff 1994;Parra et al. 1999). Although a recent study by Samuels (2009) explored how cranial morphology differs among major dietary categories of rodents (e.g., carnivores, generalist herbivores, and omnivores), no study yet has focused solely on the relationship between incisor morphology and diet in rodents nor attempted to discriminate among herbivore diets at a finer scale.The aim of our pilot study is to test whether a relationship between incisor morphology and diet exists among primarily herbivorous rodents. We do so by focusing on a morphologicall...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Incisor morphology reflects diet in caviomorph rodents

Croft¹,

Niemi²,

Franco³

2011

J Mammal

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“…It is also possible, though, that body size and tooth size evolve independently (body size being far more plastic than tooth size, e.g., Serrat et al 2010). Differences in rate of size evolution among skeletal elements have been observed in other rodent species (Yom-tov and Yom-tov 2004). It is, therefore, unclear as to whether size will remain a good indicator of species in other regions and climatic conditions (past and present).…”

Section: Shape Versus Sizementioning

confidence: 99%

Dental Shape Variation and Phylogenetic Signal in the Rattini Tribe Species of Mainland Southeast Asia

et al. 2018

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The Rattini tribe comprises some of the most specious genera in the mammalian kingdom. Many of these species are also highly morphologically conserved. As a result, identifying Rattini tribe animals, particularly those of the Rattus genus, to species level is extremely difficult. Problems with identification of conservative morphologies, particularly of the skeleton, have led to difficulties in understanding the fossil remains and as a result the systematics of this group. Here, we apply geometric morphometrics to the first lower molar of 14 species of the Rattini tribe. We find that the morphological data present a strong phylogenetic signal. However, within Rattus, this signal is rather complex and possibly hints at rapid evolutionary shape and size changes. In modern species, it is possible to identify specimens to species level with a good degree of confidence. We find that using both size and shape together affords further confidence with identification. However, we caution against the over-reliance on size in environments with unknown species composition and climate, particularly in archaeological contexts. This approach should prove to be a useful tool for identifying fossil and sub-fossil remains, particularly where biomolecular markers are absent in circumstances of poor preservation.

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“…However, increased temperature, especially during the winter, enables animals to divert energy from maintenance to growth, and there may be an increase in the length of the growing season, thus increasing primary production and consequently food availability. Individuals may in turn increase in body size, thus producing a trend contrary to Bergmann's rule, as found in the Japanese large field mouse Apodemus speciosus (Yom-Tov and Yom-Tov 2004) and the masked shrew Sorex cinereus in Alaska (YomTov and Yom-Tov 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Population cycles and changes in body size of the lynx in Alaska

Yom‐Tov

MacDonald

et al. 2007

Oecologia

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The lynx Lynx canadensis is a common predator in the boreal forests of North America. Its population fluctuates during a 9- to 11-year cycle in synchrony with the population size of its main prey, the snowshoe hare Lepus americanus. Using adult museum specimens, we studied changes in skull (and hence body) size of the lynx in Alaska during the second half of the 20th century. The population cycle in Alaska averaged 9 years, similar to that reported in the neighbouring Yukon. Using harvest data of lynx as an estimate of population size, we found that skull size was negatively related to population size. This relationship was strongest not for the population density in the year of death (X), but for year X-3, a carry-over effect from the first year (or years) of life, indicating that conditions during the fast-growth years are determining body size. We suggest that the density-dependent effect is probably due to changes in food supply, either resulting from the adverse effects of competition or a possible diminished availability of food. Two skull parameters decreased significantly during the second half of the 20th century. We do not know the cause for the year effect and suggest that it might be due to a long-term change in the availability of prey. Canine size did not change during the study period, probably an indication that snowshoe hares maintained their status as the main prey of the lynx throughout the study period.

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Climatic change and body size in two species of Japanese rodents

Cited by 72 publications

References 18 publications

Incisor morphology reflects diet in caviomorph rodents

Incisor morphology reflects diet in caviomorph rodents

Dental Shape Variation and Phylogenetic Signal in the Rattini Tribe Species of Mainland Southeast Asia

Population cycles and changes in body size of the lynx in Alaska

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