ArticleBiology letters2023
Strength of the 'island rule' in birds is positively associated with absence of avian predators.
Article in Biology letters, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 8 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- A wide range of abiotic and biotic variables leaves most variation in bird nest architecture unexplained.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Phenotypic and developmental dissection of an instance of the island rule.Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · 2025Article
- Effects of diet quality on the musculoskeletal system of the masticatory apparatus in Mus musculus domesticus.The Journal of experimental biology · 2025Article
- The Miocene sealRoyal Society open science · 2025Article
- The island rule-like patterns of plant size variation in a young land-bridge archipelago: Roles of environmental circumstance and biotic competition.Plant diversity · 2025Article
- Phenotypic and Developmental Dissection of an Instance of the Island Rule.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Parrots live in smaller groups on islands.Biology letters · 2024Article
- Strength of the 'island rule' in birds is positively associated with absence of avian predators.Biology letters · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The similar characteristics shared by island environments have been shown to lead to common patterns of adaptations in island species, commonly referred to as the 'insularity syndrome'. A well-known example is the 'island rule', where large species become smaller on islands and small species become larger, leading to well-known cases of dwarfism and gigantism. This pattern was recently verified on a global scale, but the mechanisms underlying it have been poorly investigated. Here, we focused on the role of released pressure from predation and competition experienced by island birds. Using 120 pairs of endemic island species and their mainland sister relatives, we first verified that the island rule was detected in our dataset, and then evaluated the effects of the numbers of raptors and interspecific competitors on the evolution of the insular species' body mass. We found a strong effect of predation on body mass evolution, with a stronger island rule for species occurring on islands with no raptors, while the pattern disappears in their presence. However, we did not find an effect of competition on this pattern. Our study shows the importance of considering ecological interactions for understanding patterns of body size evolution, and the exceptions to those patterns.
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