How quickly do brains catch up with bodies? A comparative method for detecting evolutionary lag.

ABSTRACT: A trait may be at odds with theoretical expectation because it is still in the process of responding to a recent selective force. Such a situation can be termed evolutionary lag. Although many cases of evolutionary lag have been suggested, almost all of the arguments have focused on trait fitness. An alternative approach is to examine the prediction that trait expression is a function of the time over which the trait could evolve. Here we present a phylogenetic comparative method for using this 'time' approach and we apply the method to a long-standing lag hypothesis: evolutionary changes in brain size lag behind evolutionary changes in body size. We tested the prediction in primates that brain mass contrast residuals, calculated from a regression of pairwise brain mass contrasts on positi

SUBMITTER: Deaner RO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1689825 | biostudies-literature | 1999 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature