Questions: Can the decline in ectotherm body size with increasing temperature be explained
using a simple body size optimization model? Does the pattern conform to the rate–size …

1. Recently, fresh attempts have been made to understand the mechanisms structuring
species–body size distributions. Of these, the model developed by Brown, Marquet & Taper …

In many organisms, individuals in colder environments grow more slowly but are larger as
adults. This widespread pattern is embodied by two well-established rules: Bergmann's rule …

Basically all organisms can be classified as determinate growers if their growth stops or
almost stops at maturation, or indeterminate growers if growth is still intense after maturation …

Background: The temperature–size rule (TSR) describes a decrease in body size with
environmental warming. There is little agreement about why the TSR occurs, but potential …

We develop a general model for the effect of body size on fitness. We define fitness as
reproductive power, the rate of conversion of energy into offspring. Reproductive power is …

Across a wide array of animal species, mean population densities decline with species body
mass such that the rate of energy use of local populations is approximately independent of …

Question: Associations of body size and of body temperature with fitness have complex
relationships for ectotherms, but three general patterns are known. Bigger is better: Larger …

1. Rearing temperature may affect juvenile mortality, growth and development rates, adult
mortality rate, and/or population growth rate. Increased juvenile growth rate may affect the …

Species' body size distributions are right‐skewed, symmetric or left‐skewed, but right‐
skewness strongly prevails. 2. Skewness changes with taxonomic level, with a tendency to …