Shorebirds are shrinking and shape-shifting: Declining body size and lengthening bills in the past half-century

Animals are predicted to shrink and shape-shift as the climate warms; declining in size, while their appendages lengthen. Determining which types of species are undergoing these morphological changes, and why, is critical to understanding species responses to global change, including potential adaptation to climate warming. We examine body size and bill length changes in 25 shorebird species using extensive field data (>200,000 observations) collected over 46 years (1975-2021) by community scientists. We show widespread body size declines over time, and after short-term exposure to warmer summers. Meanwhile, shorebird bills are lengthening over time but shorten after hot summers. Shrinking and shape-shifting patterns are consistent across ecologically diverse shorebirds from tropical and temperate Australia, are pronounced in smaller species, and vary according to migration behaviour. These widespread morphological changes could be explained by multiple drivers, including adaptive an..., Shorebird morphometric data were collected in the field by community scientists of the Victorian Wader Study Group and the Australasian Wader Studies Group. Shorebirds were typically captured using cannon nets, bill length (culmen length) was measured using callipers, wing length (from shoulder to the tip of the longest, straightened primary feather) was measured using a butt-ended ruler, mass was measured using platform or spring scales.  , , # Shorebirds are shrinking and shape-shifting [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.1zcrjdg0g](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.1zcrjdg0g) The dataset includes data collected from wild shorebirds captured and released in the field from 1975-2021 in north-western and south-eastern Australia, including mass, wing length and bill length measurements, as well climate data obtained from nearby Australian Bureau of Meteorology weather stations. ## Description of the data and file structure The file includes the data described in the table below. Cells containing 'NA' are present were data are not available. For further details on how the data was collected, please see the published paper. | **Datasheet Label** | **Explanation** | | :---------------------- | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...随着气候变暖，动物体型预计将缩小且形态发生改变：体型减小，同时附属肢体长度增加。明确哪些类群正在经历此类形态学变化及其背后的机制，对于理解物种对全球变化的响应（包括对气候变暖的潜在适应性）至关重要。 本研究依托公民科学家在46年（1975-2021年）间收集的海量野外观测数据（超20万条记录），分析了25种滨鸟（shorebird）的体型与喙长变化。研究结果显示，随着时间推移以及短期暴露于暖夏环境后，滨鸟的体型普遍呈现下降趋势。与此同时，滨鸟的喙长随时间推移逐渐增加，但在经历炎热夏季后会缩短。 这种体型缩小与形态转变的模式在澳大利亚热带与温带地区生态多样的滨鸟类群中普遍存在，在小型物种中尤为显著，且随迁徙行为的不同而有所差异。此类广泛存在的形态学变化可由多种驱动因素解释，包括适应性…… 滨鸟（shorebird）形态测量数据由维多利亚涉禽研究组（Victorian Wader Study Group）与澳大拉西亚涉禽研究组（Australasian Wader Studies Group）的公民科学家在野外采集。滨鸟通常使用高炮网捕获；喙长（嘴峰长，culmen length）采用游标卡尺测量；翅长（从肩端至最长伸直初级飞羽的尖端）采用带平头端的直尺测量；体重则使用台秤或弹簧秤测量。 # 滨鸟体型缩小且形态发生转变 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.1zcrjdg0g](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.1zcrjdg0g) 本数据集涵盖1975-2021年在澳大利亚西北部与东南部野外捕获并放归的野生滨鸟的相关数据，包括体重、翅长与喙长测量值，以及从澳大利亚气象局（Australian Bureau of Meteorology）附近气象站获取的气候数据。 ## 数据与文件结构说明 本文件包含下表中描述的数据。表格中值为"NA"的单元格表示对应数据缺失。如需了解数据采集的详细信息，请参阅已发表的研究论文。 | **数据表标签（Datasheet Label）** | **说明（Explanation）** | | :---------------------- | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...