A practical guide to collections-based research on ecogeographic rules

Matan Shelomi*, Shai Meiri

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Ecogeographic research into how species' forms vary across space, time, and climate has taken on new urgency due to contemporary global climate change. Research using museum specimens and other records to study biological rules like Bergmann's, Allen's, and Gloger's Rules has a long history and continues to generate publications and robust scientific debates. Despite the prevalence and history of the field, however, no simple guide on how to carry out such work has ever been published. To lower the barriers of entry for new researchers, this review was created as a practical guide on how to perform ecogeographic research. The guide consolidates disparately published methodologies into a single, convenient document that reviews the history and present of the field of ecogeographic rule research, and describes how to generate appropriate hypotheses, design experiments, gather, and analyze biotic and geographic data, and interpret the results in an ecologically meaningful manner. The result is a semi-standardized guide that enables scientists at all levels from any institution to carry out an investigation from start to finish on any biological rule, taxon, and location of their choice.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere10211
JournalEcology and Evolution
Volume13
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2023

Funding

FundersFunder number
National Taiwan University International Collaboration Seed Fund112L2033‐03
Tel Aviv University

    Keywords

    • Allen's Rule
    • Bergmann's Rule
    • biogeography
    • ecogeography
    • guidelines
    • methodology

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