Brain size, innovative propensity and migratory behaviour in temperate Palaearctic birds.

ABSTRACT: The evolution of migration in birds remains an outstanding, unresolved question in evolutionary ecology. A particularly intriguing question is why individuals in some species have been selected to migrate, whereas in other species they have been selected to be sedentary. In this paper, we suggest that this diverging selection might partially result from differences among species in the behavioural flexibility of their responses to seasonal changes in the environment. This hypothesis is supported in a comparative analysis of Palaearctic passerines. First, resident species tend to rely more on innovative feeding behaviours in winter, when food is harder to find, than in other seasons. Second, species with larger brains, relative to their body size, and a higher propensity for innovative beha

SUBMITTER: Sol D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1559823 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature