A unit of Lasting Forests evolving since March 30, 1999
A Total Forest Management Plan and Wildland Management Decision Support System
[ HOME | The Trevey Home | Table of Contents | The Finder | Glossary ]

Latitude and Longitude

The Latitude/Longitude Window for the Area:

Maximum Latitude data to be supplied for each specific area)

Minimum Latitude

Maximum Longitude

Minimum Longitude

The window of Earth in which the area lies is presented by the above latitude and longitude extremes. Scientists over many years have found that these two variables, latitude and longitude, are related to many ecological phenomena. Knowing them, especially along with other variables, gives insight into why animal and plant populations differ, what limits may be expected, and what may be effects of human-caused changes in the area. As in other ecological topics, there are many factors involved and latitude may be a surrogate or index for a group of factors such as day-length, length of the growing period, and frost-free periods.

A GIS map of the state showing only the boundary and 10-20 colored latitude bands may be instructive. Describing phenomena in each band may be of interest and these will be strongly related to wildlife/temperature relations.

A graph of the frequency of pixels in each band will be of use if strong specific latitude realtions are followed. This graph will be an approximate negative logarithm distribution for Virginia. The generalizations, now possible, are that the higher the latitude (the more northerly), the following hold:

1. the larger the animal body size (Bergman's Rule - races of warm blooded vertebrates from cooler climates tend to be larger than races of the same species in warmer climates) (Vaughan,1986)
2. the lighter the color
3. the lighter the bird color (Endler 1977, Gill 1989)
4. the lower the species number (richness)
5. the greater the specialization exhibited by animals
6. the greater is life expectancy
7. the greater the home range (Stevens 1989, France, 1992)
8. the greater is bison body size (Berger and Peacock 1988)
9. the lesser is food niche breadth
10. the greater is resident bird body size (Gill 1989)
11. the greater the size of the Atlantic puffin Fratercula arctica (Uspenskii 1989, Hesse 1925)
12. the greater is bird bill length
13. the greater is bird wing length
14. the greater is bird wing pointedness
15. the lesser is bird egg size
16. the greater is bird bone size
17. the greater is bird clutch size (Koening 1984, Gill)
18. the lesser is bird brood size
19. the greater is litter size in non-hibernators (Lord 1960,Ritke 1990)
20. the earlier are denning dates
21. the later the parturition (seals)
22. the greater is fox body length
23. the greater is badger skull size (Long 1983, Neal 1986)
24. the greater is fox squirrel skull size
25. the greater is fox squirrel body size
26. the greater is chamois heart wall (Couturier 1938, Soma 1987)
27. the later are breeding seasons

28. Number of breeding bird species in a South-to-North band along the East coast of North America. Units are quadrants of equal latitude from Florida to Maine (from MacArthur 1969) . (Species richness then decreases northward.)
    1 2 3 4 5	72 93 120 133 141

    the shorter are breeding seasons
29. the greater is duck survival (Hestbeck 1990)
30. the sooner duck and other bird migration begins (southward) (Hagan et al. 1991)
31. the lesser is salamander size (Juterbock 1986, 1990)
32. the lesser is lizzard predator richness
33. the faster the rate of fish growth
34. the greater the fish body length
35. the greater the length and weight of herrings
36. the higher is swallowtail butterfly survival

Other observations:

• There is an exception. Body mass does not seem to increase for the woodland mouse, Peromyscus (MacMillen and Garland 1989) where

  M = 96.1 - 1.86 L (M=body mass in grams, L= degrees latitude

• Plant and animal richness is a function of latitude raised to the -0.1001 and tend to explain about 12% of the variance in observations (Johnson, Mason, and Raven 1968)
• Herring (Tanasichuk et. al. 1993) and Blenny (a teleost fish, Gilligan 1991, Shepherd and Grimes 1984, Thompson and Gilligan 1983) mass and length tend to increase with latitude
• Predation on lizzards did not decrease with increasing latitude (Wilson)
• The length of the growing season decreases by a factor of 2.5 with increase in latitude and mean temperature decreases by 3 degrees C within the growing season (Conover and Present and Conover)
• Hopkins (1938) said spring occurs 4-5 days (say 4.5) later for each 1 degree increase in latitude or

  y = a + 4.5 L

  where y = day when breeding will occur

  a = day when breeding occurs at a known latutude (1-365)

  L = the difference in latitude (integer); e.g., y = 104 + 4.5(20 degrees))

• The number of bird species ( richness) decreases with increasing latitude, but breeding bird species in the Eastern US increases with increasing latitude (MacArthur and Wilson 1967) (Primack 1993)
• Large eggs may have a selective advantage to the North but the jackdaw (Corvus monedula) clutch size increases with latutude, not the egg size (Cody 1966, Soler and Soler 1992)
• There is later and shorter nesting in the higher latitudes (L'Hyver et al. 1991)
• Highly veriable, puma body size increases over a range of 100 degrees latitude (Iriate et al. 1990) but relation has not been demonstrated in coyotes (Thurber and Peterson 1991)
• Latitude along with weather and physical conditions has an effect on the time of starting and duration of black bear denning (Hamilton and Marchinton 1980; O'Pezio et al. 1983)
• Fuentas 1979 (no reference) observed that in areas of greater that 500mm annual evapotranspiration, such evapotranspiration is correlated with carnivore size (perhaps energy availability)
• For raccoons, at lower latitudes animals lag behind those at higher latitudes in breeding age, parturition dates, litter size, and frequency of late litters ( Fritzell, E.K. 1978)
• Growth potential for ponderosa pine decreases as latitude increases (frost-free days influence root elongation) (Rehfeldt 1993)

A relationship between habitat use and latitude has also been tested. The eastern tiger swallowtail bufterfly (Papilio glaucus) has different percentage tree uses in the northern and southern part of its range (Scriber et al. 1991). In north latitudes there is a higher percent use Populus trernuloides and higher larvae survival than in southern regions. Liriodendron tulipifera has a higher percent use in the southern latitudes (Scriber et al. 1991). This species differentiation from north to south latitudes has to do with the toxicity of the trees to the swallowtail larvae. In the north L. tulipifera is more toxic to swallowtail larvae than in the south. The opposite is true for P. tremuloides in the south.

Energy requirements and thermal tollerance may set a latitudinal limit to the distribution of a species; as this limit is approached, the abundance of the species drops as climatic conditions become marginal.

These observations may assist in making comparisons of observations between those on the area and elsewhere. They allow increased pricision in GIS maps of potential areas for plants and animals. They may help control statistical variance or suggest related factors that have greater causal effects than "latitude."Perhaps they can add to predictions and modify prescriptions for using the land. They will eventually be included in an expert system.

References

Anderson, E.W. 1983. Animals as navigators. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York, NW 206pp.

Berger, J. and M. Peacock. 1988. Variability in the size-weight relationships of Bison bison. J. Mammalogy 69(3):618-624

Brooke, M. and T. Burkhead 1991. Cambridge encyclopedia of ornithology, Cambridge Univ. Press, 82-83

Castro. G. et al. Ecology and energetics of sanderlings migrating to four latitudes. Ecology 73(3):833-844

Cody, M.L. 1966. A general theory of clutch size. Evolution 20:174-184

Conover, D.O. 1992. Seasonality and the scheduling of life history at different latutudes. J. Fish Biology 41 (supplement B): 161-178

Conover, D.O. and T. Present. 1990. Countergradient variation in growth rate: compensation for length of the growing season among Atlantic silversides from different latitudes. Oecologia 83: 316-324

Conover, D.O. and T.M.C. Present. 1992. Physiological basis of latitudinal growth differences in Menidia menidia: variation in consumption or efficiency? Functional Ecology 6:23-31

Couturier, M. 1938. Le chamois. Arthaud, Grenoble

Donazar, J.A. 1990. Geographic variation in clutch and brood size of the eagle owl Bubo bubo in the western Palearctic. Journal of Fur Ornithologue 131:439-443

Emlen, J.M. ? Ecology: an evolutionary approach. Addison-Wesley Pub Co., Reading, MA 493pp.

Endler, J.A. 1977. Geographic variation speciation and clines. Univ. Press, Princeton

France, R. 1992. The North American latitudinal gradient in species richness and geographical range of freshwater crayfish and amphipods. Am Nat. 139:342-354

Fritzell, E.K. 1978. Reproduction of raccoons (Procyon lotor) in North Dakota. Amer. Midland Naturalist 100(1):253-256

Gill, F.B. 1990. Ornithology. W.H. Freeman Co., New York, NY 660pp.

Gilligan, M.R. 1991. Bergmann ecogeographic trends among triplefin blennies (Teleosteii:Triptergiidae) in the Gulf of California, Mexico Env. Biol. Fish. 31: 301-305.

Gompper, M.E. and J.L. Gittleman. 1991. Home range scaling: intraspecific and comparative trends. Oecologia 87: 343-348

Graves, G.R. 1991. Bergmann's rule near the equator:latitudinal clines in body size of an Andean passerine bird. Proc. Natl. Academy of Sci. 88: 2322-2325

Haberman, K., D. MacKenzie, and J.D. Rising. 1991. Geographic variation in the grap kingbird. J. Field Ornithology 62(1): 117-131.

Hagan, J.M. ,T.L. Lloyd-Evans, and J.L. Atwood. 1991. The relationship between latitude and the timing of spring migration of North American landbirds. Ornis Scandinavica 22: 129-136.

Hamilton, R.J. and L.R. Marchinton. 1980. Denning and related activities of blackbears in the Coastal Plain of North Carolina. The Bear Biology Assoc. ?

Hesse, R. 1925. The Bergmann's rule. Die Naturwisensch, 31

Hestbeck, J.B. 1990. North-South gradient in survival rates in midcontinental populations of mallards. J. Wildlife Mgmt. 54(2):206-211

Hopkins, A.D. 1938. Bioclimatics, a science of life and climate relations. US Dept. Agriculture, Msc. Pub. 280

Iriate, J.A., W.L. Franklin, W.E. Johnson, and K.H. Redford 1990. Biogeographic variation of food habits and body size of the American puma. Oecologia 85: 185-190.

Ives, A.R. and E.D. Klopfer. 1997. Spatial variation in abundance created by stochastic temporal variation, Ecology 78: 1907-1913

Jenseen, B. Munro, M. Ekker, and C. Bech. 1988. Thermoregulation in winter acclimatized eider in air and water. Can. J. Zool. 67(3): 669-672

Johnson, R.F. 1960. Variation in breeding season and clutch size in song sparrows of the Pacific coast. Condor 56:268-273.

Juterbock, J.E. 1986. The nesting behavior of the dusky salamander, Desmognathus fuscus, I. Nesting phenology Herpetologica 42(4): 457-471

Juterbock, J.E. 1990. Variation in larval growth and metamorphosis in the salamander Desmognathus fuscusHerpetologica 46(3):291-303

Koenig, W.D. 1984. Geographic variation in clutch size in the Northern flicker (Colaptes auratus): support for Ashmole's hypothesis Auk 101:698-706

LeCount, A.L. 1983. Denning ecology of black bears in Central Arizona. International Assoc. for Bear Research and Management?

L'Hyver, M. and E.H. Miller. 1991. Geographic and local variation in nesting phenology and clutch size of the black oystercatcher Condor 93:892-903.

Long C. A. The badgers of the world, Chas. C. Thomas Publishers, Springfield, Ill

Lord, R.D., Jr. 1960. Litter size and latitude in North American mammals. Amer. Midl. Naturalist 64:488-499

Macarthur, R.H. Geographical ecology and The Theory of island biogeography

MacMillen, R.E. and T.G. Garland Jr. 1989. Adaptive physiology p. 143-168 in Advances in the study of Peromyscus, G.L. Kirland Jr., and J.N. Layne, eds. Texas Tech Univ. Press,

Moen, S.M. 1991. Morphologic and genetic variation among breeding colonies of the Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica). Auk 108:755-763

Myers, A.A. and P.S. Giller. 1988. Analytical biogeography, Chapman and Hall, New York

Neal, E. 1986. The natural hiustory of badgers. Facts on file Publications, New York, NY

O'Pezio, J. 1983. Chronology of blackbear denning in the Catskill Region of New York.International Assoc. for Bear Research and Management?

Partridge, L. 1989. Lifetime reproductive success and life history evolution , p.421-440in I. Newton, ed, Lifetime reproduction in birds, Academic Press, San Diago, CA

Perrins, C.M. and T.R. Birkhead. 1983. Avian biology. Blackie and Son Ltd., Glasgow and London 70

Primack, R.B. 1993. Essentials of conservation biology Sinauer Assoc., Sunderland, MA 547pp.

Proctor, N.S. and P. J. Lynch 1993. Manual of ornithology: avian structure and function Yale Univ. Press p. 34-37.

Rehfeldt, G.E. 1993. Genetic variation in the Ponderosae of the Southwest. Amer. J. Botany 80(3):330-343.

Ricklefs, R.E. 1980. Geographic variation in clutch size among passerine birds:Ashmole's hypothesis Auk. 97: 38-49

Rising, J.D. 1988. Geographic variation in sex ratios and body size in wintering flocks of Savannah sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis) Wilson Bull. 100(2):183-203

Ritke, M.E. 1990 Quantative assessment of variation in litter size of the raccoon, Procyon lotor. Am Midland Nat. 123: 390-398

Scriber, J. Mark, B.L. Giebink, and D. Snider. 1991. Reciprocal latitudinal clines in oviposition behavior of Papiho glaucus and P. canadensis across the Great Lakes hybrid zone: possible sex - linkage of oviposition preferences. Oecologia. 14: 360 -364.

Shepherd, G.R. and C.B. Grimes. 1984. Reproduction of weadfish, (Cynoscion regalis) in the New York Bight and evidence for geographically specific life history characteristics. US Fish Bull. 82: 501-511

Soler, M. and J.J. Soler. 1992. Latitudinal trends in clutch size in single brooded hole nesting bird species: a new hypothesis. Ardea 80(2): 293-300

Soma, H. 1987. The biology and management of capricornis and related mountain antelopes. Croom Helm Co. New York,NY 391p.

Stevens, G.C. 1989. The latitudinal gradient in geographical range: how so many species coexist in the tropics Am. Nat. 133: 240-256

Tanasichuk, R.W., A. H. Kristofferson, and D.V. Gillman. 1993. Comparison of some life history characteristics of Pacific Herring Clupea pallasi from the Canadian Pacific Ocean and Beaufort Sea. Canadian J. Fisheries and Aquatic Science 50(5): 964-971

Thompson, D.A. and M.R, Gilligan. 1983. The fishes, p. 98-129 in T.J. Case and M. L. Cody eds. Biography of islands in the Sea of Cortez, Univ. Calif. Press, Berkeley

Thurber, J.M. and R.O.Peterson. 1991. Changes in body size associated with range expansion in the coyote (Canis latrans). J. Mammalogy 72: 750-755.

Uspenskii, S.M. 1984. Life in high latitudes: a study of bird life. Amerind Publishing Co, Pvt. Ltd. , New York p21-22.

Vaughan, T.A. 1986. Mammalogy, Saunders College Publishing, Philadelphia 576p.

Wilson, B.S. 1991. Latitudinal variation in activity season mortality rates of the lizard Uta stansburiana Ecol. Monog 61: 393-414

Wood, T.K. and K.L. Olmstead. 1984. Latitudinal effects on treehopper species richness (Homoptera: Membracidea). Ecolocical Entomology 9: 109-115.

This Web site is maintained by R. H. Giles, Jr.
Last revision January 17, 2000.