Long-term increases in wing length occur independently of changes in climate and climate-driven shifts in body size

Recent widespread reductions in body size across species have been linked
to increasing temperatures; simultaneous increases in wing length relative
to body size have been broadly observed, but remain unexplained. Size and
shape may change independently of one another, or these morphological
shifts may be linked, with body size mediating or directly driving the
degree to which shape changes. Using hierarchical Bayesian models and a
morphological time series of 27,366 specimens from five North American
migratory passerine bird species, we tested the roles that climate and
body size have played in shifting wing length allometry over four decades.
We found that colder temperatures and reduced precipitation during the
first year of life were associated with increases in wing length relative
to body size, but did not explain long-term increases in wing length. We
found no conclusive evidence that the slope of the relationship between
body size and wing length changed among adult birds in response to any
climatic variable or through time, suggesting that body size is not
mediating shifts in relative wing length. Together, these findings suggest
that long-term increases in wing length are not a compensatory adaptation
mediated by size reductions, but rather are driven by non-climatic
factors.