I guess today will be one of those days that I focus more on a ecological and evolutionary frame than biological or mechanics. The next subject I wanted to raise is the process of Insular Dwarfism.

Insular Dwarfism is the process where though a line of generations, the size of a species actually decreases because the amount of space the species population can inhabit is very limited. This type fo phenonmenon is a smaller part of what scientists call the “island rule” (or better known as Foster’s Rule) where when animals and organisms from a larger mainland is transported to a smaller limited land like an island, the large animals decrease in size while the smaller animals increase in size. Foster’s rule (also known as the island rule) is a principle in evolutionary biology stating that members of a species get smaller or bigger depending on the resources available in the environment.

The main ideas on why this phenomenon occurs are stated from the Wikipedia Article on Insular Dwarfism found HERE.

There are several proposed explanations for the mechanism which produces such dwarfism.

One is a selective process where only smaller animals trapped on the island survive, as food periodically declines to a borderline level. The smaller animals need fewer resources and smaller territories, and so are more likely to get past the break-point where population decline allows food sources to replenish enough for the survivors to flourish. Smaller size is also advantageous from a reproductive standpoint, as it entails shorter gestation periods and generation times.

In the tropics, small size should make thermoregulation easier.

Among herbivores, large size confers advantages in coping with both competitors and predators, so a reduction or absence of either would facilitate dwarfing; competition appears to be the more important factor.

Among carnivores, the main factor is thought to be the size and availability of prey resources, and competition is believed to be less important. In tiger snakes, insular dwarfism occurs on islands where available prey is restricted to smaller sizes than are normally taken by mainland snakes. Since prey size preference in snakes is generally proportional to body size, small snakes may be better adapted to take small prey.

Me: It would thus be true that for endothermic mammals like humans which need a rather large amount of land to survive, the process of being moved from a mainland to an island will most likely result in the size of the people there being reduced. To make sure that one’s future generation will only increase in size, thus follow the Cope’s Rule, one should be focused on getting enough space and resources to thrive. Noting also Bergmann’s Rule and Allen’s Rule, we could also add that we should focus on finding places that is not close to the equator to minimuize our surface area to volume ratio but not at the expense of limb length. 

To learn more about island dwarfism, and it’s reverse island gigantism, go to the link HERE.

The Cope’s Rule is a slightly less well known rule developed by paleontologists an ecologists to explain how an organism’s size evolves over time. Compared to say the Bergmann’s Rule or Allen’s Rule, it may be the weakest rule to really use.

I learned about Cope’s Rule when taking a class on biology annd ecology back in college when explaining about evolution along with Bergmann’s Rule and Allen’s Rule and I felt that it is very important for any serious researcher into the process of human growth to know about this rule

I don’t remember the rule completely well so I will take the follow excerpt from the Wikipedia Article on Cope’s Rule which you can find by clicking HERE.

Cope’s rule

– Postulated by the American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope, states that population lineages tend to increase in body size over evolutionary time. While the rule has been demonstrated in many instances, it does not hold true at all taxonomic levels, or in all clades. Larger body size is associated with increased fitness for a number of reasons, although there are also some disadvantages both on an individual and on a clade level: clades comprising larger individuals are more prone to extinction, which may act to limit the maximum size of organisms.

Effects of growth

Directional selection appears to act on organisms’ size, whereas it exhibits a far smaller effect on other morphological traits, though it is possible that this perception may be a result of sample bias.This selectional pressure can be explained by a number of advantages, both in terms of mating success and survival rate.

For example, larger organisms find it easier to avoid or fight off predators and capture prey, to reproduce, to kill competitors, to survive temporary lean times, and to resist rapid climatic changes. They may also potentially benefit from better thermal efficiency, increased intelligence, and a longer lifespan.

Validity

Discussing the case of canid evolution in North America, Blaire Van Valkenburgh of UCLA and coworkers state:

Cope’s rule, or the evolutionary trend toward larger body size, is common among mammals. Large size enhances the ability to avoid predators and capture prey, enhances reproductive success, and improves thermal efficiency. Moreover, in large carnivores, interspecific competition for food tends to be relatively intense, and bigger species tend to dominate and kill smaller competitors. Progenitors of hypercarnivorous lineages may have started as relatively small-bodied scavengers of large carcasses, similar to foxes and coyotes, with selection favoring both larger size and enhanced craniodental adaptations for meat eating. Moreover, the evolution of predator size is likely to be influenced by changes in prey size, and a significant trend toward larger size has been documented for large North American mammals, including both herbivores and carnivores, in the Cenozoic.

— 20, 20, Van Valkenburgh et al.

In some cases, the increase in body size may represent a passive, rather than an active, trend. In other words, the maximum size increases, but the minimum size does not; this is usually a result of size varying pseudo-randomly rather than directed evolution. This does not fall into Cope’s rule sensu stricto, but is considered by many workers to be an example of “Cope’s rule sensu lato“. In other cases, an increase in size may in fact represent a transition to an optimal body size, and not imply that populations always develop to a larger size.

Me:  This is my interpretation and application of the Cope’s Rule. When making the arguement that size is always better, it is important to note that the rule is not always applicable. as stated, “In many cases, Cope’s rule only operates at certain taxonomic levels: for example, an order may obey Cope’s rule, while its constituent families do not….Despite many counter-examples, Cope’s rule does hold in many instances”

So, if I am ever doing an evolutionary analysis on how the human body should grow as time progresses, I promise that the Cope’s Rule will be used sparingly. 

Since we got into the discussion of Bergmann’s Rule, it is only fitting that we also talk about its kissing cousin, Allen’s Rule.

It states that endotherms from colder climates usually have shorter limbs (or appendages) than the equivalent animals from warmer climates. Endotherms are organisms who produces heat through internal means, like say through muscle shivers or raising of one’s metabolism. Mammals and birds classify as endotherms but reptiles and fish are classified as ectotherms,

The theory behind Allen’s rule is that endothermic animals with the same volume may have differing surface areas, which will aid or impede their temperature regulation. This means that two people of the same volume but the person who has less surface area through short limbs is will lose less heat.

We take an excerpt from the Wikipedia Article on Allen’s Rule HERE.

“”In cold climates, the greater the exposed surface area, the greater the loss of heat and therefore energy. Animals in cold climates need to conserve as much energy as possible. A low surface area to volume ratio helps to conserve heat as there is a smaller surface area for the heat to pass through.

In warm climates, the opposite is true. An animal will overheat quickly if it has a low surface area to volume ratio. Therefore, animals in warm climates will have high surface area to volume ratios so as to help them lose heat.

(From a physics point of view, it does sound very reasonable.)

“”A contributing factor to Allen’s Rule may be that the growth of cartilage is partly dependent on temperature. “Researchers at Pennsylvania State University have shown that temperature can directly affect cartilage growth, providing a biological explanation for this rule….were significantly shorter in the mice raised in the cold, compared with the mice raised at warmer temperatures….when they tried growing bone samples at different temperatures, the researchers found that the samples grown in warmer temperatures had significantly more cartilage growth than those grown in colder temperatures”” (!!)

When Allen’s Rule is applied to humans, the researchers seem to mostly agree that Allen’s Rule is valid. Verne Troyer who played Mini-Me in the Austin Powers movies is an example of someone who has short limbs relative to their body. He is 2′ 8″ tall and suffers from cartilage–hair hypoplasia dwarfism He is pictured above.

“”According to William R. Leonard of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Florida, human populations follow Allen’s rule. As evidence, Leonard cites a study by D.F. Roberts of the Anthropology Laboratory at Oxford University that showed human populations follow Allen’s rule. A.T. Steegman of the Department of Anthropology at State University of New York investigated the assumption that Allen’s rule caused the structural configuration of the “Arctic Mongoloid” face. Steegman did an experiment that involved the survival of rats in the cold.^] Steegman found the rats with narrow nasal passages, broader faces, shorter tails and shorter legs survived the best in the cold – Wikipedia”

Me: My final conclusion to the Allen Rule is that it is a useful “rule of thumb” to be considered when we do make arguements about limb and height deviations seen between different ethnic groups located across the world. Limb length relative to height is often a good determinant factor on how the human body has evolved against nature over time.

Note: You can find more information about Allen’s Rule by clicking HERE which gives a great understanding of the Principle by Palomar University. 

Tyler’s Notes:

Here’s an interesting new study regarding Allen’s rule.

Allen’s Rule Revisited: Temperature Influences Bone Elongation During a Critical Period of Postnatal Development.

“Limbs of animals raised at warm ambient temperature are significantly and permanently longer than those of siblings housed in the cold. These highly reproducible lab results closely parallel the ecogeographical tenet described by Allen’s extremity size rule, which states that appendage length correlates with temperature and latitude. It is unclear what mechanisms underlie these differences and in what pattern they emerge, since the morphology is traditionally thought to reflect naturally selected genomic adaptations for thermoregulation. This study tests the a posteriori hypothesis that adult extremity length is subject to substantial modification by temperature during a brief but critical period of early postnatal development{this may explain why being born in the summer increases height}. Weanling mice were divided into three groups and housed at 7°C, 21°C, or 27°C for eight weeks. Tail lengths and body mass were measured weekly. Mass did not differ at any age. Analysis of tail elongation curves revealed two distinct phases: an initial period of rapid temperature-sensitive growth in which elongation rate was directly impacted by temperature; and a second phase of continued growth in which rates were identical among groups. Comparable growth reactions occur in response to other environmental variables such as exercise, suggesting that the skeleton is most responsive to external stimuli during a window of heightened sensitivity when growth occurs most rapidly.”

Couldn’t get the full study yet.

If one does any research and study of human size for an extended amount of time, one rule that will pop up over and over again is this eco-biological law that states that for a “broadly distributed genus, species of larger size are found in colder environments, and species of smaller size are found in warmer regions.” That law has been reworked to be applied for populations within a species. The varying measured unit is in terms of latitudes.

The Wikipedia article for Bergmann’s Rule can be found by clicking HERE.

From the Wikipedia article, “Bergmann’s rule is most often applied to mammals and birds which are endotherms, but some researchers have also found evidence for the rule in studies of ectothermic species. While Bergmann’s rule appears to hold true for most mammals and birds, there are exceptions.

…there seems to be a tendency for larger-bodied animals to conform more closely than smaller-bodied animals, at least up to certain latitudes, perhaps reflecting a reduced ability to avoid stressful environments by burrowing or other means. In addition to being a general pattern across space, Bergmann’s rule has been reported in populations over historical and evolutionary time when exposed to varying thermal regimes. Note that Bergmann’s rule describes a tendency of body mass variation within groups; it does not suggest that large-bodied animals do not occur in warm climates.

…the earliest explanation, given by Bergmann when originally formulating the rule, is that larger animals have a lower surface area to volume ratio than smaller animals, so they radiate less body heat per unit of mass, and therefore stay warmer in cold climates. Warmer climates impose the opposite problem: body heat generated by metabolism needs to be dissipated quickly rather than stored within. Thus, the higher surface area-to-volume ratio of smaller animals in hot and dry climates facilitates heat loss through the skin and helps cool the body. “”

Note: To get a better understanding of Bergmann’s Rule through a Physics Interpretation, click HERE for an explanation given by Palomar University.

Me: Here is my own interpretation of Bergmann’s Rule. There seems to be some credibility to the rule, just from an analysis of say the average heights of people in various countries.

There is a little over 200 countries in the world currently today. If we took each country, and managed to integrate the land area to find the medium latitude, or the horizontal line that can cut through the country, and graphed the average male and female heights in relation to the magnitude of the distance of the country middle point from the equator, we should find a weak correlation in the graph. Of course i am not going to spend 4 hours of my life actually going through the process to add and average and guesstimate at each individual country’s medium point just to proof my point that Bergmann’s rule has some validity.

Again, I have stated that the correlation is weak. It is absolutely true that there are a few rather tall ethnicities living in countries close to the eqautor and a few short ethnic groups living closer to the ice poles at the ends of the earth. As for the surface area to volume ratio theory, it seems to me like a theory forced through to justify a set of observations.

In science, there is two types of logic and reasoning. There is deductive, where one starts from theory and first principles and axioms, and try to use them to deduce results and observations from applying them on specific situations. The other is inductive, where one’s brain is basically a pattern recognition machine. If one notices two similar outcomes in two similar events, one’s mind will try to draw a trend line through the two data points and use that trend line becomes a theory or conjecture proposed by the observers to explain a set of phenomenon.

With Bergmann’s Rule, it is clear that inductive reasoning is used, and I would say rather forcefully. Living in the US, I am in contact with people of all different ethnicities. It is true that certain groups are on average taller than others (like Dutch to Vietnamese) so we could make a note of that, but I don’t want to use Bergmann’s Rule myself as a theory or tool to justify my own personal beliefs and viewpoints. It is just too weak to be used.

In my goal to learn everything I can about this area of study, I have decided that another major area of study I will have to get into is steroids and bodybuilding.

Years ago I was in a community of people who was at the cutting edge of a type of technology that the mainstream people would never realize was even possible. The type of experiments and testing they did was on human behavior and mind control for the intent of learning about confidence tricks and social engineering. Apparently they were far ahead of the curve in the field of psychology and security analysis in understanding how people behave and think. For the rest of the mainstream people, it took them at least 10 years before real articles in scientific journals was published validating the claims made by these guys who was already in the know and practicing the stuff almost a decade ago. This revealed to me that what I could possibly learn from textbooks and scientific journals was not enough, but that I have to take a proactiv eapproach in finding the most advanced material there is on the subject.

This is why I realized that to find out and learn more about what is possible, I have to again go to the front line of technology to learn about more the fringe stuff. I plan to join in with the people who are doing steroids, the people who does biohacking and run home grown biology labs, the people who does body building, and the people who are into stem cells research. I plan to read up on isoteric forms of yoga, qigong, taichi, ninjitsu, mysticism, meditation, and everything under the sun.

Wish me luck in my journey. If after my long journey of searching, I do manage to find the holy grail, some form of “magic bullet” solution to increase height, I will be sure to come back and reveal the secret to you the readers.

After that last post, I felt it was appropriate to ask you the reader one important question which will help keep everything in perspective for you.

Question: What will you do once you achieve your dream height?

I know there is no magic bullet right now, but let’s say there was. I had written in a previous post about the possible scenario where you did find that “magic bullet”. If you want to remind yourself or have not read it, click HERE so you will understand what I will talk about next.

So let’s say that you took the pill, and you grew that 6 or 8 inches you wanted. You (Assuming hypothetically you are a girl) went from your old height of 5’0″ to 5′ 8″. That was your dream height and you reached it in 2 months. You are finally content with your body and size. You can finally look at yourself naked in the mirror before you shower and smile and feel content in your heart and mind that you have achieved what you have wanted for so long. You are now even considered “tall”. You have a whole new wardrobe full of new pants and shirts, and all of your friends are in awe at your transformation. You are getting a lot more attention not just from your friends, but also the opposite sex who have suddenly become more interested in your as a romantic prospect when they had previously ignored you or only considered you as a friend without ever taking you seriously. Now you are a true contender, a full grown woman who they even dream about, and imagine have a serious long term relationship with.

So you have now the mental, emotional, and social validation that you really wanted from your size increase. You got want you wanted, completely and thoroughly, 100%. So the real question then becomes:

What will you do now? Will you finally be able to move on with your life and do something else Maybe go to school and get a higher degree? Choose another profession in another career and start completely anew?

My suggestion is this. Make that plan and goals today. Write down all of your long term goals right now and focus on those instead of looking for a solution to this problem. It won’t appear tomorrow, or the next week.

Be ready to move on with your life. Do something else with your life, like getting married, and starting a family. Having children is often the most life changing event we can go through as humans. Being a parents is a projects that will last throughout the rest of our lives. We never stop being parents, unless tragedy removes our children from this earth.

Other projects can be only small ones, like College which can last 4-5 years. Graduate school usually even up to Ph. D can only last 5-6 years. Even the route to being a brain surgeon is only about 16 years, 4 years of college, 4 years of medical schol, 2 years of residency, and 6 years of specialization. We can choose to focus on our careers but with our professional lives these days, with the way at how fast technology is changing these days, we will probably move from career to career at least 10 times before we finally (ever we ever do managed to) retire at the age of 65. It does seem like the central theme in our lives is change. We can stand still and wait for our desires and goals come to us, or we take that first step forward and start chasing after what we truly want in life.