Bergmann's rule is a "just-so" story of human body size
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5219653 |
|---|---|
| Authors | B Bogin (0000-0002-1688-0087, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, corresponding author), Michael Hermanussen (0000-0003-4037-1597), Christiane Scheffler (0000-0003-1954-7578, University of Potsdam) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 15-15 |
| Publication date | 2022-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of PHYSIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1880-6791 • E-ISSN: 1880-6805 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1186/s40101-022-00287-z |
| PMID | 35414036 |
| OpenAlex | W4223626777 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 51 |
Carl Bergmann was an astute naturalist and physiologist. His ideas about animal size and shape were important advances in the pre-Darwinian nineteenth century. Bergmann's rule claims that that in cold climates, large body mass increases the ratio of volume-to-surface area and provides for maximum metabolic heat retention in mammals and birds. Conversely, in warmer temperatures, smaller body mass increases surface area relative to volume and allows for greater heat loss. For humans, we now know that body size and shape are regulated more by social-economic-political-emotional (SEPE) factors as well as nutrition-infection interactions. Temperature has virtually no effect. Bergmann's rule is a "just-so" story and should be relegated to teaching and scholarship about the history of science. That "rule" is no longer acceptable science and has nothing to tell us about physiological anthropology
Bergmann's rule · Biology · Brain size · Darwinism · Epistemology · Geography · Naturalism · Nothing · Political science · Scholarship · Sociology · Zoology · Adipose Tissue and Metabolism · Anthropology · Diet and metabolism studies · Medicine · Philosophy · Thermoregulation and physiological responses · Ecology
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| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,33 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |