Only Half Right: Species with Female-Biased Sexual Size Dimorphism Consistently Break Rensch's Rule
Thomas J. Webb, Robert P. Freckleton · 2007
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Description
Thomas Webb and Robert Freckleton tested a classic size rule in animals where females are the larger sex, in PLOS ONE in 2007. In most species the sexes differ in size, and females are often bigger. Rensch's rule describes how that gap tends to change as species get larger overall.
Webb and Freckleton asked whether the rule holds when females lead in size. Their answer, flagged in the title, is that such species break the rule about half the time. A half kept rule is still useful, but it needs a better explanation. The study pushes biologists to ask what drives size gaps, not just describe them.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Thomas J. Webb, Robert P. Freckleton |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2007 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 50 KB |
| LICENSE | Creative Commons Attribution License |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | PLOS ONE |
Source: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0000897