Predator-driven brain size evolution in natural populations of Trinidadian killifish (Rivulus hartii).

ABSTRACT: Vertebrates exhibit extensive variation in relative brain size. It has long been assumed that this variation is the product of ecologically driven natural selection. Yet, despite more than 100 years of research, the ecological conditions that select for changes in brain size are unclear. Recent laboratory selection experiments showed that selection for larger brains is associated with increased survival in risky environments. Such results lead to the prediction that increased predation should favour increased brain size. Work on natural populations, however, foreshadows the opposite trajectory of evolution; increased predation favours increased boldness, slower learning, and may thereby select for a smaller brain. We tested the influence of predator-induced mortality on brain size evolutio

SUBMITTER: Walsh MR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4947895 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature