TY - JOUR
T1 - No recent temporal changes in body size of three Danish rodents
AU - Yom-Tov, Yoram
AU - Yom-Tov, Shlomith
AU - Jensen, Thomas Secher
AU - Baagoe, Hans
N1 - Funding Information:
Shlomith and Yoram Yom-Tov wish to thank Mogens Andersen for his most efficient and kind help during their stay in Copenhagen and later on. The staff of the Zoological Museum of Copenhagen and COBICE were kind and efficient hosts to YYT and SYT. We thank Eli Geffen for his statistical advice and Naomi Paz for editorial advice and to two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. Work in Copenhagen was supported by a grant from the European Commission's programme “Transnational Access to Major Research Infrastructures” to COBICE (Copenhagen Biosystematics Center).
PY - 2012/1
Y1 - 2012/1
N2 - We used museum collections to study temporal trends of possible changes in skull size, body mass and body length in three species of rodents in Denmark. Skulls of adult Microtus agrestis, Apodemus flavicollis and Apodemus sylvaticus, collected between 1895 and 2004, 1847 and 2002, and 1895 and 2002, respectively, were measured and data on body mass and length were taken from the museum registers. Principal component (PC) analysis was used to combine data of the four skull measurements taken. We tested the relationship of sex, latitude, longitude, month and year of collection to PC1 by a General Linear Model (GLM). PC1, body length and body mass of M. agrestis significantly increased from west to east. In addition, PC1, body mass and body length of M. agrestis declined from summer (August) through autumn and winter to spring (March), probably due to the decline in food availability towards winter. None of the other factors examined (sex, latitude and year) were significantly related to body size. PC1 of A. flavicollis and A. sylvaticus was not significantly related to any of the environmental factors examined.
AB - We used museum collections to study temporal trends of possible changes in skull size, body mass and body length in three species of rodents in Denmark. Skulls of adult Microtus agrestis, Apodemus flavicollis and Apodemus sylvaticus, collected between 1895 and 2004, 1847 and 2002, and 1895 and 2002, respectively, were measured and data on body mass and length were taken from the museum registers. Principal component (PC) analysis was used to combine data of the four skull measurements taken. We tested the relationship of sex, latitude, longitude, month and year of collection to PC1 by a General Linear Model (GLM). PC1, body length and body mass of M. agrestis significantly increased from west to east. In addition, PC1, body mass and body length of M. agrestis declined from summer (August) through autumn and winter to spring (March), probably due to the decline in food availability towards winter. None of the other factors examined (sex, latitude and year) were significantly related to body size. PC1 of A. flavicollis and A. sylvaticus was not significantly related to any of the environmental factors examined.
KW - Body size changes
KW - Denmark
KW - Rodents
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84855262926&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s13364-011-0052-y
DO - 10.1007/s13364-011-0052-y
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AN - SCOPUS:84855262926
SN - 0001-7051
VL - 57
SP - 59
EP - 63
JO - Acta Theriologica
JF - Acta Theriologica
IS - 1
ER -