| Abstract: | Fossils of Cryptotis goodwini from Honduras indicate that body sizes of modern individuals average at least 18% larger than among members of the late Pleistocene population of this species. Palynological and other paleoenvironmental studies provide evidence that the Neotropical montane environments that these shrews inhabit were cooler and drier in the late Pleistocene than at present and supported communities of plants without modern analog. Therefore, the most likely cause of this change in size ultimately was related to climatic change at the end of the Pleistocene?but to what specific factors did the species respond? I examined the possibilities that this species changed in size: to accommodate a change in temperature regime; to escape from predators; as a response to a change in intensity of interspecific competition; to take advantage of a newly abundant food resource. Based on evidence from studies of modern communities of shrews and niche partitioning, I hypothesized that size evolution in C. goodwini was directly related to changes in the community of soil and soil-surface invertebrates upon which the species depends, specifically an increase in the availability of earthworms (Annelida). |
| Genre: | Book chapter |
| ProdID: | 5211345 |
| Citation Author: | Woodman, N. |
| Citation Contributing Office: | Patuxent Wildlife Research Center |
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| Citation Editor: | Merritt, J.F.; Churchfield, S.; Hutterer, R.; Sheftel, B.A. (editors) |
| Citation End Page: | 138 |
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| Citation Language: | English |
| Citation Larger Work Title: | Advances in the Biology of Shrews II |
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| Citation Phsyical Description: | xiii, 454 |
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| Citation Public Comments: | The volume is a product of the International Colloquium on the Biology of the Soricidae II that was convened on 14-18 October 2002 at the Powdermill Biological Station of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. PDF on file: 6605_Woodman.pdf 1.7 MB |
| Citation Publisher: | International Society of Shrew Biologists |
| Citation Series: | Special Publication |
| Citation Series Code: | |
| Citation Series Number: | 1 |
| Citation Search Results Text: | Size evolution in Goodwin?s small-eared shrew, Cryptotis goodwini; 2005; Book chapter; 1; Advances in the Biology of Shrews II; Woodman, N. |
| Citation Start Page: | 125 |
| Citation Volume: | |
| Citation Year: | 2005 |
| Type: | citation/reference |
| Text: | Size evolution in Goodwin?s small-eared shrew, Cryptotis goodwini; 2005; Book chapter; 1; Advances in the Biology of Shrews II; Woodman, N. |
| URL (THUMBNAIL): | http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/thumbnails/outside_thumb.jpg |
| Date Other: | Tue, 9 Jun 2009 09:23 -0500 |
| Publisher: | International Society of Shrew Biologists |
