The island rule of body size demonstrated on individual hosts: phytophagous click beetle species grow larger and predators smaller on phylogenetically isolated trees

摘要

AimUnder spatial isolation on oceanic islands, species tend to show extreme body sizes. From the point of view of many colonizers, individual hosts surrounded by phylogenetically distant neighbours are phylogenetically isolated. This study addresses for the first time how phylogenetic isolation of individual hosts affects body size of colonizers, and whether effects on body size reflect selection among colonizers established on host individuals rather than selection among colonizers dispersing toward trees or phenotypic plasticity of colonizers.