Climate change and sexual size dimorphism in an Arctic spider.
Climate change is advancing the onset of the growing season and this is happening at a particularly fast rate in the High Arctic. However, in most species the relative fitness implications for males and females remain elusive. Here, we present data on 10 successive cohorts of the wolf spider Pardosa glacialis from Zackenberg in High-Arctic, northeast Greenland. We found marked inter-annual variation in adult body size (carapace width) and this variation was greater in females than in males. Earlier snowmelt during both years of its biennial maturation resulted in larger adult body sizes and a skew towards positive sexual size dimorphism (females bigger than males). These results illustrate the pervasive influence of climate on key life-history traits and indicate that male and female responses to climate should be investigated separately whenever possible.
Department of Wildlife Ecology and Biodiversity, National Environmental Research Institute, Aarhus University, Rønde, Denmark. toh@dmu.dk
Toke Thomas
TT
Høye
Jörg U
JU
Hammel
Thomas
T
Fuchs
Søren
S
Toft
D000818:Animals; D001110:Arctic Regions; D049628:Body Size; D057231:Climate Change; D005260:Female; D008018:Life Cycle Stages; D008297:Male; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013112:Spiders / Q000502:physiology*; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors