Modeling sexual differences of body size variation in ground beetles in geographical gradient (The case study in Pterostichus oblongpunctatus Fabricius, 1787)

Raisa A Sukhodolskaya1, *, Anatoly A Saveliev2, Nadezhda L Ukhova3, Iraida G Vorobyova 4, Igor A Solodovnikov5,  Anatoliy L Anciferov6, Tatyana A Gordienko 1, Rifgat R Shagidullin1 and Dmitriy N Vavilov1

1The Institute of Problems in Ecology and Mineral Wealth, Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, Kazan, Russia.

2 Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, Kazan, Russia.

3Visimskiy Nature Reserve, Kirovgrad, Russia.

4Mariy State University, Yoshkar Ola. Russia.

5Educational establishment, Vitebsk State P.M. Masherov University, Vitebsk, Belarus.

6 Kostroma Museum-Reserve, Kostroma, Russia.

 

Research Article
GSC Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2020, 13(03), 149-161.
Article DOI: 10.30574/gscbps.2020.13.3.0388
Publication history: 
Received on 27 November 2020; revised on 14 December 2020; accepted on 16 December 2020
 
Abstract: 
Fleshing out the mechanisms of Bergmann rule, we found saw-tooth pattern in body size variation in ground beetle Pterostichus oblongopunctatus. We sampled beetles in 2010 – 2018 at the forest undisturbed plots on the broad territory in Russia and Belarus. Investigating regions covered territory, extending to 3 degrees latitude and 31 degrees longitude. We measured six traits in every of 3294 caught individuals. ANOVA showed that geographical location and sex affected significantly body size of the species studied.  Mean values of each trait changed significantly from one studied region to another in females and males as well. Sexual size dimorphism in   species was female-biased. We performed models in R to estimate the steepness of body size variation in both sexes. In overwhelming majority of cases that parameter was equal in both sexes. So the hypothesis, that male′s variation is steeper in latitude gradient was not confirmed.
 
Keywords: 
Body size variation; Sexual size dimorphism; Ground beetles; Geographical gradient; Modeling; Saw-tooth pattern; Bergmann rule
 
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Copyright information: 
Copyright © 2020 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0

 

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