Brain size and evolutionary diversification in birds
Sayol Altarriba, Ferran
Sol Rueda, Daniel dir. (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Facultat de Biociències

Date:	2013
Description:	38 p.
Abstract:	The role of behavior in evolution remains controversial, despite that some ideas are over 100 years old. Changes in behavior are generally believed to enhance evolution by exposing individuals to new selective pressures and by facilitating range expansions. However, this hypothesis lacks firm empirical evidence. Moreover, behavioral changes can also inhibit evolution by hiding heritable variation from natural selection. Taking advantage of the complete phylogeny of extant birds, a new species-level measure of past diversification rate and the best existing measures of brain size (n = 1326 species), I show here that relative brain size is associated (albeit weakly) with diversification rates. Assuming that brain relative size reflects behavioral flexibility, an assumption well-supported by evidence, this finding supports the idea that behavior can enhance evolutionary diversification. This view is further supported by the discovery that the most important factor influencing diversification rates is ecological generalism, which is believed to require behavioral flexibility. Thus, behavioral changes that expose animals to a variety of environments can have played an important role in the evolution of birds.
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Studies:	Ecologia terrestre i gestió de la biodiversitat [4313774]
Series:	Facultat de Biociències. Treballs de màster i postgrau. Màster en Ecologia Terrestre i Gestió de la Biodiversitat
Document:	Treball de fi de postgrau
Subject:	Ocells ; Hàbits i conducta

38 p, 1.3 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > CREAF (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Research literature > Dissertations > Biosciences. MT