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146 results for “brain size”
Did complex song and dance co-evolve with brain size in the Birds of Paradise (Aves: Paradisaeidae)?
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Coevolution of relative brain size and life expectancy in parrots
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The evolution of hearing and brain size in Eocene whales
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Brain size and life history variables in birds
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Behavior and brain size of larval zebrafish exposed to environmentally relevant concentrations of betamethylamino- L-alanine (BMAA)
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Data from: Brain size does not predict learning strategies in a serial reversal learning test
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Reversal learning assays are commonly used across a wide range of taxa to investigate associative learning and behavioural flexibility. In serial reversal learning, the reward contingency in a binary discrimination is reversed multiple times. Performance during serial reversal learning varies greatly at the interspecific level, as some animals adapt a rule-based strategy that enables them to switch quickly between reward contingencies. Enhanced learning ability and increased behavioural flexibility generated by a larger relative brain size has been proposed to be an important factor underlying this variation. Here we experimentally test this hypothesis at the intraspecific level. We use guppies (<i>Poecilia reticulata</i>) artificially selected for small and large relative brain size, with matching differences in neuron number, in a serial reversal learning assay. We tested 96 individuals over ten serial reversals and found that learning performance and memory were predicted by brain size, whereas differences in efficient learning strategies were not. We conclude that variation in brain size and neuron number is important for variation in learning performance and memory, but these differences are not great enough to cause the larger differences in efficient learning strategies observed at higher taxonomic levels. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
Data from: Reversed brain size sexual dimorphism accompanies loss of parental care in white sticklebacks
Uncovering factors that shape variation in brain morphology remains a major challenge in evolutionary biology. Recently, it has been shown that brain size is positively associated with level of parental care behavior in various taxa. One explanation for this pattern is that the cognitive demands of performing complex parental care may require increased brain size. This idea is known as the parental brain hypothesis (PBH). We set out to test the predictions of this hypothesis in wild populations of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). These fish are commonly known to exhibit (1) uniparental male care and (2) sexual dimorphism in brain size (males>females). To test the PBH, we took advantage of the existence of closely related populations of stickleback that display variation in parental care behavior: common marine threespine sticklebacks (uniparental male care) and white threespine sticklebacks (no care). To begin, we quantified genetic differentiation among two common populations and three white populations from Nova Scotia. We found overall low differentiation among populations, although FST was increased in between-type comparisons. We then measured the brain weights of males and females from all five populations along with two additional common populations from British Columbia. We found that sexual dimorphism in brain size is reversed in white stickleback populations: males have smaller brains than females. Thus, while several alternatives need to be ruled out, the PBH appears to be a reasonable explanation for sexual dimorphism in brain size in threespine sticklebacks.
Data from: The allometry of brain size in mammals
Why some animals have big brains and others do not has intrigued scholars for millennia. Yet, the taxonomic scope of brain size research is limited to a few mammal lineages. Here, we present a brain size dataset compiled from the literature for 1,552 species with representation from 28 extant taxonomic orders. The brain–body size allometry across all mammals is (Brain) = −1.26 (Body)^0.75. This relationship shows strong phylogenetic signal. Thus, we conducted additional allometries using median species values for each order, family, and genus to ensure evolutionary independence. Slopes from these analyses at different taxonomic levels all approximate ~0.75 scaling. Why brain size scales to the 3/4 power to body size across mammals is to our knowledge unknown. Slopes within taxonomic orders, exhibiting smaller size ranges, are generally shallower than 0.75 and range from 0.24 to 0.81 with a median slope of 0.64. Published data on brain size are lacking for the majority of extant mammals (> 70% of species) with strong bias in representation from Primates, Carnivora, Perissodactyla, and Australidelphian marsupials (orders Dasyuromorphia, Diprotodontia, Peramelemorphia). Several orders are particularly underrepresented. For example, data on brain size are available for less than 20% of species in each of the following speciose lineages: Soricomorpha, Rodentia, Lagomorpha, Didelphimorphia, and Scandentia. Use of museum collections can decrease the current taxonomic bias in mammal brain size data and tests of hypothesis.
Relative brain size is predicted by the intensity of intrasexual competition in frogs
Competition over mates is a powerful force shaping trait evolution. For instance, better cognitive abilities may be beneficial in male−male competition and thus be selected for by intrasexual selection. Alternatively, investment in physical attributes favoring male performance in competition for mates may lower the resources available for brain development, and more intense male mate competition would coincide with smaller brains. To date, only indirect evidence for such relationships exists and most studies are heavily biased towards primates and other homoeothermic vertebrates. We tested the association between male brain size (relative to body size) and male−male competition across N=30 species of Chinese anurans. Three indicators of the intensity of male mate competition—operational sex ratio (OSR), spawning-site density and male forelimb muscle mass—were positively associated with relative brain size, whereas the absolute spawning-group size was not. The relationship with the OSR and male forelimb muscle mass was stronger for the male than the female brains. Taken together, our findings suggest that the increased cognitive abilities of larger brains are beneficial in male−male competition. This study adds taxonomic breadth to the mounting evidence for a prominent role of sexual selection in vertebrate brain evolution.
Coordinated evolution of brain size, structure and eye size in Trinidadian killifish
<p>Brain size, brain architecture, and eye size vary extensively in vertebrates. However, the extent to which the evolution of these components is intricately connected remains unclear. Trinidadian killifish, <em>Anablepsoides hartii</em>, are found in sites that differ in the presence and absence of large predatory fish. Decreased rates of predation are associated with evolutionary shifts in brain size; males from sites without predators have evolved a relatively larger brain and eye size than males from sites with predators. Here, we evaluated the extent to which the evolution of brain size, brain structure, and eye size covary in male killifish. We utilized wild-caught and common garden reared specimens to determine if specific components of the brain have evolved in response to differences in predation and to determine if there is covariation between the evolution of brain size, brain structure, and eye size. We observed consistent shifts in brain architecture in second generation common garden reared, but not wild caught preserved fish. Male killifish from sites that lack predators exhibited a significantly larger telencephalon, optic tectum, cerebellum, and dorsal medulla when compared with fish from sites with predators. We also found positive connections between the evolution of brain structure and eye size but not between overall brain size and eye size. These results provide evidence for evolutionary covariation between the components of the brain and eye size. Such results suggest that selection, directly or indirectly, acts upon specific regions of the brain, rather than overall brain size, to enhance visual capabilities.</p>
Brain size, gut size and cognitive abilities: the energy trade-offs tested in artificial selection experiment
<p>The enlarged brains of homeotherms bring behavioural advantages, but also incur high energy expenditures. The 'Expensive Brain' (EB) hypothesis posits that the energetic costs of the enlarged brain and the resulting increased cognitive abilities (CA) were met either by increased energy turnover or reduced allocation to other expensive organs, such as the gut.</p> <p><span>We tested the EB hypothesis by analyzing correlated responses to selection in an experimental evolution model system, which comprises line types of laboratory mice selected for high or low basal (BMR), or high maximum (VO<sub>2max</sub>) metabolic rates. The traits are implicated in the evolution of homeothermy, having been pre-requisites for the encephalisation and exceptional CA of mammals, including humans.<i> </i>High-BMR mice had bigger guts, but not brains, than mice of other line types. Yet, they were superior to the other line types in the cognitive tasks carried out in both reward and avoidance learning contexts. Furthermore, the high-BMR mice had higher neuronal plasticity (indexed as the long-term potentiation, LTP) than their counterparts. Our data indicate that the evolutionary increase of CA in mammals was initially associated with increased BMR and brain plasticity. It was also fueled by an enlarged gut, which was not traded off for brain size.</span></p>
Evolutionary divergence in phenotypic plasticity shapes brain size variation between coexisting sunfish ecotypes
<p>Mechanisms that generate brain size variation and the consequences of such variation on ecological performance are poorly understood in most natural animal populations. We use a reciprocal-transplant common garden experiment and foraging performance trials to test for brain size plasticity and the functional consequences of brain size variation in Pumpkinseed sunfish (<em>Lepomis gibbosus</em>) ecotypes that have diverged between nearshore littoral and offshore pelagic lake habitats. Different age-classes of wild-caught juveniles from both habitats were exposed for six months to treatments that mimicked littoral and pelagic foraging. Plastic responses in oral jaw size suggested that treatments mimicked natural habitat-specific foraging conditions. Plastic brain size responses to foraging manipulations differed between ecotypes, as only pelagic sourced fish showed brain size plasticity. Only pelagic juveniles under 1 year-old expressed this plastic response, suggesting that plastic brain size responses decline with age and so may be irreversible. Finally, larger brain size was associated with enhanced foraging performance on live benthic but not pelagic prey, providing the first experimental evidence of a relationship between brain size and prey-specific foraging performance in fishes. The recent post-glacial origin of these ecotypes suggests that brain size plasticity can rapidly evolve and diverge in fish under contrasting ecological conditions.</p>
Data from: Testing hypotheses of marsupial brain size variation using phylogenetic multiple imputations and a Bayesian comparative framework
<p>Considerable controversy exists about which hypotheses and variables best explain mammalian brain size variation. We use a new, high-coverage dataset of marsupial brain and body sizes, and the first phylogenetically imputed full datasets of 16 predictor variables, to model the prevalent hypotheses explaining brain size evolution using phylogenetically corrected Bayesian generalised linear mixed-effects modelling. Despite this comprehensive analysis, litter size emerges as the only significant predictor. Marsupials differ from the more frequently studied placentals in displaying much lower diversity of reproductive traits, which are known to interact extensively with many behavioural and ecological predictors of brain size. Our results therefore suggest that studies of relative brain size evolution in placental mammals may require targeted co-analysis or adjustment of reproductive parameters like litter size, weaning age, or gestation length. This supports suggestions that significant associations between behavioural or ecological variables with relative brain size may be due to a confounding influence of the extensive reproductive diversity of placental mammals.</p>
Brain size affects responsiveness in mating behavior to variation in predation pressure and sex-ratio
<p>Despite ongoing advances in sexual selection theory, the evolution of mating decisions remains enigmatic. Cognitive processes often require simultaneous processing of multiple sources of information from environmental and social cues. However, little experimental data exist on how cognitive ability affects such fitness-associated aspects of behavior. Using advanced tracking techniques, we studied mating behaviors of guppies artificially selected for divergence in relative brain size, with known differences in cognitive ability, when predation threat and sex-ratio was varied. In females, we found a general increase in copulation behavior in when the sex-ratio was female biased, but only large-brained females responded with greater willingness to copulate under a low predation threat. In males, we found that small-brained individuals courted more intensively and displayed more aggressive behaviors than large-brained individuals. However, there were no differences in female response to males with different brain size. These results provide further evidence of a role for female brain size in optimal decision-making in a mating context. In addition, our results indicate that brain size may affect mating display skill in male guppies. We suggest that it is important to consider the association between brain size, cognitive ability and sexual behavior when studying how morphological and behavioral traits evolve in wild populations.</p>
Preventing Fetal Body and Brain Size Reduction in Low-income Smoking Mothers: A Randomized Clinical Trial
ClinicalTrials.gov study NCT01248260. IPD Sharing: Not stated. Countries: 1. Publications: 1.
Educating Brain Tumor Patients Using Patient-specific Actual-size Three-dimensional Printed Models
ClinicalTrials.gov study NCT04970615. IPD Sharing: NO. Countries: 1. Publications: 7.
Coordinated evolution of brain size, structure and eye size in Trinidadian killifish
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Data from: The allometry of brain size in mammals
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Evolutionary divergence in phenotypic plasticity shapes brain size variation between coexisting sunfish ecotypes
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Data from: Quantitative genetic analysis of brain size variation in sticklebacks: support for the mosaic model of brain evolution
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Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.
DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.
International Brain Laboratory public data
The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.