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Decrease in body size of Danish goshawks during the twentieth century

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Abstract

Recent studies indicated that body size of various animals, including birds, changed during the twentieth century, and these changes were attributed to changes in food availability and climate. We used museum skins of goshawks (Accipiter gentilis) collected between 1854 and 1941 and between 1979 and 1998 in order to check whether body size of this species in Denmark changed during the study period. We compared three body measurements (wing, beak and tarsus length) and the first principal component (PC1) derived from these measurements of four groups of goshawks (adult and immature, females and males). We found that the wing length of goshawks collected after 1979 was significantly smaller in comparison with those collected before this year, and females were more affected than males. Immature birds (but not adults) collected after 1979 had significantly shorter beaks than those from the early period. Immature females collected after 1979 had shorter tarsi than those collected in the early period. There was a significant decrease in body size (as represented by PC1) from the early to late period, which was more pronounced among females and immature birds. In conclusion, body size of goshawks in Denmark decreased during the twentieth century.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Mogens Andersen, Hans Baagoe, Karsten Hessellund, Jan Kristensen and Jon Fjeldsaa for their hospitality in Copenhagen Museum, Robert Kenward, Ian Tøttrup Nielsen, Jan Drachmann for their advice and information, Ilana Galrenter for statistical advice and Naomi Paz for editorial comments. Work in Copenhagen was supported by a grant from the European FPVI European-funded Integrated Infrastructure Initiative SYNTHESYS Project and by the Israel Cohen Chair for Environmental Zoology to YY.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel

    Yoram Yom-Tov & Shlomith Yom-Tov

Authors
  1. Yoram Yom-Tov
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  2. Shlomith Yom-Tov
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Correspondence to Yoram Yom-Tov.

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Communicated by F. Bairlein.

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Yom-Tov, Y., Yom-Tov, S. Decrease in body size of Danish goshawks during the twentieth century. J Ornithol 147, 644–647 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-006-0090-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-006-0090-4

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