Annual variation in predation risk is related to the direction of selection for brain size in the wild.

ABSTRACT: The direction of predator-mediated selection on brain size is debated. However, the speed and the accuracy of performing a task cannot be simultaneously maximized. Large-brained individuals may be predisposed to accurate but slow decision-making, beneficial under high predation risk, but costly under low risk. This creates the possibility of temporally fluctuating selection on brain size depending on overall predation risk. We test this idea in nesting wild eider females (Somateria mollissima), in which head volume is tightly linked to brain mass (r² = 0.73). We determined how female relative head volume relates to survival, and characterized the seasonal timing of predation. Previous work suggests that relatively large-brained and small-brained females make slow versus fast nes

SUBMITTER: Jaatinen K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6694153 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature