The animal species–body size distribution of Marion Island

Body size is one of the most significant features of animals. Not only is it correlated with many life history and ecological traits, but it also may influence the abundance of species within, and their membership of, assemblages. Understanding of the latter processes is frequently based on a comparison of model outcomes with the frequency of species of different body mass within natural assemblages. Consequently, the form of these frequency distributions has been much debated. Empirical data usually concern taxonomically delineated groups, such as classes or orders, whereas the processes ultimately apply to whole assemblages. Here, we report the most complete animal species–body size distribution to date for those free-living species breeding on sub-Antarctic Marion Island and using the terrestrial environment. Extending over 15 orders of magnitude of variation in body mass, this distribution is bimodal, with separate peaks for invertebrates and vertebrates. Under logarithmic transformation, the distribution for vertebrates is not significantly skewed, whereas that for invertebrates is right-skewed. Contrary to expectation based on a fractal or pseudofractal environmental structure, the decline in the richness of species at the smallest body sizes is a real effect and not a consequence of unrecorded species or of species introductions to the island. The scarcity of small species might well be a consequence of their large geographic ranges.

[1]  P. Allsopp.  Probability of describing an Australian scarab beetle:(r)influence of body size and distribution , 2003 .

[2]  S. Chown,et al.  Biological invasions of Southern Ocean islands : the Collembola of Marion Island as a test of generalities , 2001 .

[3]  A. Beattie,et al.  Contribution of oribatid and mesostigmatid soil mites in ecologically based estimates of global species richness , 2001 .

[4]  B. OConnor,et al.  Neohyadesia microtricha (Acari: Astigmata: Algophagidae): a new species from the sub-Antarctic , 2001, Polar Biology.

[5]  K. Gaston,et al.  Pattern and Process in Macroecology , 2000 .

[6]  Gaston,et al.  Areas, cradles and museums: the latitudinal gradient in species richness. , 2000, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[7]  Bruce D. Patterson,et al.  Patterns and trends in the discovery of new Neotropical mammals , 2000 .

[8]  P. Ryan,et al.  Changes in population size, habitat use and breedingbiology of lesser sheathbills (Chionis minor) at Marion Island: impacts of cats, mice and climate change? , 2000 .

[9]  R. May.  Unanswered questions in ecology. , 1999, Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences.

[10]  K. J. Clarke,et al.  Ubiquitous dispersal of microbial species , 1999, Nature.

[11]  P. Tyler,et al.  Global distribution of free‐living microbial species , 1999 .

[12]  Kevin J. Gaston,et al.  A critique for macroecology , 1999 .

[13]  B. OConnor,et al.  New records of Acari from the sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Islands , 1999, Polar Biology.

[14]  M. Tokeshi,et al.  Species Coexistence: Ecological and Evolutionary Perspectives , 1998 .

[15]  R. Kitching,et al.  Mites in the mist : How unique is a rainforest canopy-knockdown fauna? , 1998 .

[16]  K. Gaston,et al.  Ecological Biogeography of Southern Ocean Islands: Species‐Area Relationships, Human Impacts, and Conservation , 1998, The American Naturalist.

[17]  H. Proctor,et al.  Predatory Mites in Tropical Australia: Local Species Richness complementarity 1 , 1998 .

[18]  Kevin J. Gaston,et al.  The Biology of Rarity , 1997, Population and Community Biology Series.

[19]  K. Gaston,et al.  The species–body size distribution: energy, fitness and optimality , 1997 .

[20]  J. Weiner,et al.  Interspecific Allometries Are by-Products of Body Size Optimization , 1997, The American Naturalist.

[21]  T. Fenchel,et al.  Global diversity and body size , 1996, Nature.

[22]  Dnn,et al.  The Behaviour, Population Biology and Physiology of the Petrels , 1996 .

[23]  P. Kindlmann,et al.  Distribution of Body Sizes in Arthropod Taxa and Communities , 1996 .

[24]  A. Dixon,et al.  Body size distribution in aphids: relative surface area of specific plant structures , 1995 .

[25]  K. Gaston,et al.  Animal body size distributions: patterns, mechanisms and implications. , 1994, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[26]  N. F. Hadley.  Water Relations of Terrestrial Arthropods , 1994 .

[27]  Bruce D. Patterson,et al.  Accumulating knowledge on the dimensions of biodiversity: systematic perspectives on Neotropical mammals , 1994 .

[28]  T. Fenchel.  There are more small than large species , 1993 .

[29]  M. Taper,et al.  Evolution of Body Size: Consequences of an Energetic Definition of Fitness , 1993, The American Naturalist.

[30]  P. Pugh.  A synonymic catalogue of the Acari from Antarctica, the sub-Antarctic Islands and the Southern Ocean , 1993 .

[31]  A. Keast.  Habitat Structure: The Physical Arrangement of Objects in Space. Based on a Symposium Held at the University of South Florida, May 1988.Susan S. Bell , Earl D. McCoy , Henry R. Mushinsky , 1992 .

[32]  James H. Brown,et al.  Spatial Scaling of Species Composition: Body Masses of North American Land Mammals , 1991, The American Naturalist.

[33]  Y. Basset,et al.  Species number, species abundance and body length of arboreal arthropods associated with an Australian rainforest tree , 1991 .

[34]  Kevin J. Gaston,et al.  Body size and probability of description: the beetle fauna of Britain , 1991 .

[35]  J. Cooper,et al.  Improved breeding success of Great-winged Petrels Pterodroma macroptera following control of feral cats Felis catus at subantarctic Marion Island , 1991, Bird Conservation International.

[36]  S. Bell,et al.  Habitat Structure , 1991, Population and Community Biology Series.

[37]  Anthony J. Gaston,et al.  The Petrels: Their Ecology and Breeding Systems , 1991 .

[38]  N. Stork,et al.  Species number, species abundance and body length relationships of arboreal beetles in Bornean lowland rain forest trees , 1988 .

[39]  P. Colgan,et al.  Size Ratios and Artifacts: Hutchinson's Rule Revisited , 1987, The American Naturalist.

[40]  J. Lawton,et al.  The Population and Community Ecology of Invading Insects [and Discussion] , 1986 .

[41]  Robert M. May,et al.  The Search for Patterns in the Balance of Nature: Advances and Retreats , 1986 .

[42]  P. R. Condy,et al.  Antarctic Nutrient Cycles and Food Webs , 1985, Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

[43]  J. Lawton,et al.  Fractal dimension of vegetation and the distribution of arthropod body lengths , 1985, Nature.

[44]  B. Bell,et al.  The Vegetation of the Sub-Antarctic Islands Marion and Prince Edward , 1984 .

[45]  H. Wolda,et al.  DIVERSITY OF INSECT FAUNAS , 1977 .

[46]  D. M. Power.  Biometry. The Principles and Practice of Statistics in Biological Research; Statistical Tables , 1970 .

[47]  S. Chown,et al.  Mite and insect zonation on a Marion Island rocky shore: a quantitative approach , 2000, Polar Biology.

[48]  S. Chown,et al.  The biology of Bothrometopus elongatus (Coleoptera, Curculionidae) in a mid-altitude fellfield on sub-Antarctic Marion Island , 2000, Polar Biology.

[49]  A. Beattie,et al.  Relationships between body length, number of species and species abundance in soil mites and beetles , 1999 .

[50]  V. Behan-Pelletier,et al.  Mites in forest canopies: filling the size distribution shortfall? , 1999, Annual review of entomology.

[51]  S. Chown,et al.  Records of alien insect species from sub-Antarctic Marion and South Georgia Islands , 1998 .

[52]  S. Chown,et al.  The impact of a small, alien invertebrate on a sub-Antarctic terrestrial ecosystem: Limnophyes minimus (Diptera, Chironomidae) at Marion Island , 1998, Polar Biology.

[53]  D. Jablonski.  Body-size evolution in Cretaceous molluscs and the status of Cope's rule , 1997, Nature.

[54]  K. Gaston,et al.  What determines the probability of discovering a species?: a study of South American oscine passerine birds , 1995 .

[55]  S. Chown,et al.  Recently established Diptera and Lepidoptera on sub-Antarctic Marion Island. , 1994 .

[56]  Kevin J. Gaston,et al.  Are Newly Described Bird Species Small-Bodied? , 1994 .

[57]  Dolph Schluter,et al.  Species diversity in ecological communities: historical and geographical perspectives. , 1993 .

[58]  B. Groombridge.  Global biodiversity: status of the earth's living resources. , 1992 .

[59]  C. Pennycuick.  Comparative Physiology: life in water and on land , 1987 .

[60]  S. Stanley,et al.  Macroevolution: Pattern and Process , 1980 .

[61]  G. Yeates.  Morphometrics and growth in eight New Zealand soil nematode populations. , 1973 .

[62]  G. Yeates.  Nematoda of a Danish Beech Forest. II. Production Estimates , 1973 .

[63]  F. James Rohlf,et al.  Biometry: The Principles and Practice of Statistics in Biological Research , 1969 .

[64]  J. Bunt.  The soil-inhabiting nematodes for Macquarie Island. , 1954 .