Environmental variation and the evolution of large brains in birds

Ferran Sayol (), Joan Maspons, Oriol Lapiedra, Andrew N. Iwaniuk, Tamás Székely and Daniel Sol ()
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Ferran Sayol: CREAF, Cerdanyola del Vallès
Joan Maspons: CREAF, Cerdanyola del Vallès
Oriol Lapiedra: Harvard University
Andrew N. Iwaniuk: Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge
Tamás Székely: Milner Centre of Evolution, University of Bath
Daniel Sol: CREAF, Cerdanyola del Vallès

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Environmental variability has long been postulated as a major selective force in the evolution of large brains. However, assembling evidence for this hypothesis has proved difficult. Here, by combining brain size information for over 1,200 bird species with remote-sensing analyses to estimate temporal variation in ecosystem productivity, we show that larger brains (relative to body size) are more likely to occur in species exposed to larger environmental variation throughout their geographic range. Our reconstructions of evolutionary trajectories are consistent with the hypothesis that larger brains (relative to body size) evolved when the species invaded more seasonal regions. However, the alternative—that the species already possessed larger brains when they invaded more seasonal regions—cannot be completely ruled out. Regardless of the exact mechanism, our findings provide strong empirical support for the association between large brains and environmental variability.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13971

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