Are ecological and evolutionary rules being dismissed prematurely?

Recently, it has been suggested that the group of patterns known as the ecological and evolutionary rules are invalid and only of interest historically. Here, I briefly review evidence for the four most prominent patterns: Bergmann’s rule, Cope’s rule, Rapoport’s rule, and the latitudinal gradient in species richness. Although more comprehensive reviews exist for these patterns, the purpose of this paper is to highlight recent work illustrating the validity of each pattern, to question the conclusion that these patterns are only of historical interest, and to briefly explore possible connections between each of these patterns. I also recommend that meta‐analytical techniques, a group of statistical methods rarely used in ecology and evolution, need to be incorporated in future tests of general trends.