Exploring Height Resource in Japan and Productivity of Bergman’s Rule

Abstract

　Bergmann’s rule is a theory put forth by Carl Bergmann (1847) which states, briefly, that among homeothermic animals those living in colder regions have higher body weight and those living in warmer regions have lower body weight. Almost no studies in Japan have investigated whether this rule can be applied directly to humans. In this study we place the secular trends in height in the 47 prefectures of Japan onto a secular change standardization chart that we prepared of male and female third year high school students (17 years old) nationwide from 1955 to 2010. We then evaluated the secular trends. Based on this we applied Bergmann’s rule to the distribution of secular change in height with consideration of the economic growth of each prefecture. One may speculate that the extent and range of use of Bergmann’s rule can be surmised with this. Then, thinking that the extent of usage of Bergmann’s rule can be replaced with educational productivity, we investigate hypotheses of that productivity.