A trade-off between reproductive investment and maternal cerebellum size in a precocial bird.

ABSTRACT: Natural selection favours increased investment in reproduction, yet considerable variation in parental investment is observed in natural populations. Life-history theory predicts that this variation is maintained by a trade-off between the benefits of increased reproductive investment and its associated costs for the parents. The nature of these costs of reproduction, however, remains poorly understood. The brain is an energetically highly expensive organ and increased reproductive investment may, therefore, negatively affect brain maintenance. Using artificial selection lines for high and low prenatal maternal investment in a precocial bird, the Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica), we provide experimental evidence for this hypothesis by showing that increased prenatal provisioning negative

SUBMITTER: Ebneter C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5206586 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature