scholarly journals The life-history basis of behavioural innovations

2016 ◽  
Vol 371 (1690) ◽  
pp. 20150187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Sol ◽  
Ferran Sayol ◽  
Simon Ducatez ◽  
Louis Lefebvre
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Adaptive System ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
Evolutionary Origin ◽  
Generalist Species ◽  
Previous Evidence

The evolutionary origin of innovativeness remains puzzling because innovating means responding to novel or unusual problems and hence is unlikely to be selected by itself. A plausible alternative is considering innovativeness as a co-opted product of traits that have evolved for other functions yet together predispose individuals to solve problems by adopting novel behaviours. However, this raises the question of why these adaptations should evolve together in an animal. Here, we develop the argument that the adaptations enabling animals to innovate evolve together because they are jointly part of a life-history strategy for coping with environmental changes. In support of this claim, we present comparative evidence showing that in birds, (i) innovative propensity is linked to life histories that prioritize future over current reproduction, (ii) the link is in part explained by differences in brain size, and (iii) innovative propensity and life-history traits may evolve together in generalist species that frequently expose themselves to novel or unusual conditions. Combined with previous evidence, these findings suggest that innovativeness is not a specialized adaptation but more likely part of a broader general adaptive system to cope with changes in the environment.

scholarly journals Life in the Slow Lane: Reproductive Life History of the White-Browed Scrubwren, an Australian Endemic

The Auk ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 117 (2) ◽  
pp. 479-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert D. Magrath ◽  
Ashley W. Leedman ◽  
Janet L. Gardner ◽  
Anthony Giannasca ◽  
Anjeli C. Nathan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
Breeding Biology ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Successful Attempt ◽  
Reproductive Life ◽  
History Of ◽  
Small Clutch

Abstract An understanding of geographic and phylogenetic variation in passerine life histories is hampered by the scarcity of studies from the Southern Hemisphere. We documented the breeding biology of the White-browed Scrubwren (Sericornis frontalis), an Australia endemic in the Pardalotidae (parvorder Corvida). Like other members of the Pardalotidae, scrubwrens had a long laying interval (two days), a long incubation period (declining from 21 to 17 days through the season), and a long period of postfledging parental care (6 to 7 weeks). Scrubwrens appeared to be typical of the Australian Corvida in having a small clutch size (three eggs) and a long breeding season (5.4 months), and they also had a long interval between breeding attempts (10 days after a failed attempt, 21 days after a successful attempt). Scrubwrens were multibrooded, often raising two broods successfully and occasionally raising three broods. The breeding biology of scrubwrens adds further support to claims of a distinct life-history strategy for members of the Corvida but also reinforces evidence that some “Corvida” life-history traits more specifically are those of the Pardalotidae.

scholarly journals Do human ‘life history strategies’ exist?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Sear
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Life History ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Human Sciences

Interest in incorporating life history research from evolutionary biology into the human sciences has grown rapidly in recent years. Two core features of this research have the potential to prove valuable in strengthening theoretical frameworks in the health and social sciences: the idea that these is a fundamental trade-off between reproduction and health; and that environmental influences are important in determining individual life histories. For example, the idea that mortality risk in the environment shifts individuals along a ‘fast-slow continuum’ of ‘life history strategy’ is now popular in the evolutionary human sciences. In biology, ‘fast’ life history strategists prioritise reproduction over health so that individuals grow quickly, reproduce early and often, and suffer a rapid deterioration in health and relatively early death; ‘slow’ strategists start reproducing later, have fewer offspring, and die at an older age. Evolutionary human scientists tend to assume that, along with these life history outcomes, several behavioural traits, such as parenting, mating and risk-taking behaviour and, in the most expansive version, a whole suite of psychological and personality traits also cluster together into ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ life histories. Here, I review the different approaches to life history strategies from evolutionary anthropologists, developmental psychologists and evolutionary psychologists, in order to assess the theoretical and empirical evidence for human ‘life history strategies’. While there is precedent in biology for the argument that some behavioural traits, notably risk-taking behaviour, may be linked in predictable ways with life history outcomes, there is relatively little theoretical or empirical justification for including a very wide range of behavioural traits in a ‘life history strategy’. Given the diversity and lack of consistency in this human life history literature, I then make recommendations for improving its usefulness: 1) greater clarity over terminology, so that a distinction is made between life history outcomes such as age at maturity, first birth and death, and behavioural traits which may be associated with life history outcomes but are not life history traits themselves; 2) more empirical data on linkages between life history traits, behavioural traits and the environment, including the underlying mechanisms which generate these linkages; 3) more empirical work on life history strategies in a much broader range of populations than has so far been studied. Such a research programme on human life history has the potential to produce valuable insights for the health and social sciences, not least because of its interest in environmental influences on health, reproduction and behaviour.

scholarly journals Predator-Induced Plasticity on Warning Signal and Larval Life-History Traits of the Aposematic Wood Tiger Moth, Arctia plantaginis

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Abondano Almeida ◽  
Johanna Mappes ◽  
Swanne Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Predation Risk ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Development Time ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Warning Signal ◽  
Black Body ◽  
Tiger Moth ◽  
Tiger Moths

Predator-induced plasticity in life-history and antipredator traits during the larval period has been extensively studied in organisms with complex life-histories. However, it is unclear whether different levels of predation could induce warning signals in aposematic organisms. Here, we investigated whether predator-simulated handling affects warning coloration and life-history traits in the aposematic wood tiger moth larva, Arctia plantaginis. As juveniles, a larger orange patch on an otherwise black body signifies a more efficient warning signal against predators but this comes at the costs of conspicuousness and thermoregulation. Given this, one would expect that an increase in predation risk would induce flexible expression of the orange patch. Prior research in this system points to plastic effects being important as a response to environmental changes for life history traits, but we had yet to assess whether this was the case for predation risk, a key driver of this species evolution. Using a full-sib rearing design, in which individuals were reared in the presence and absence of a non-lethal simulated bird attack, we evaluated flexible responses of warning signal size (number of orange segments), growth, molting events, and development time in wood tiger moths. All measured traits except development time showed a significant response to predation. Larvae from the predation treatment developed a more melanized warning signal (smaller orange patch), reached a smaller body size, and molted more often. Our results suggest plasticity is indeed important in aposematic organisms, but in this case may be complicated by the trade-off between costly pigmentation and other life-history traits.

Hormones and Behavior

2019 ◽  
pp. 11-26
Author(s):  
Maren N. Vitousek ◽  
Laura A. Schoenle
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Endocrine System ◽  
Phenotypic Traits ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
And Behavior

Hormones mediate the expression of life history traits—phenotypic traits that contribute to lifetime fitness (i.e., reproductive timing, growth rate, number and size of offspring). The endocrine system shapes phenotype by organizing tissues during developmental periods and by activating changes in behavior, physiology, and morphology in response to varying physical and social environments. Because hormones can simultaneously regulate many traits (hormonal pleiotropy), they are important mediators of life history trade-offs among growth, reproduction, and survival. This chapter reviews the role of hormones in shaping life histories with an emphasis on developmental plasticity and reversible flexibility in endocrine and life history traits. It also discusses the advantages of studying hormone–behavior interactions from an evolutionary perspective. Recent research in evolutionary endocrinology has provided insight into the heritability of endocrine traits, how selection on hormone systems may influence the evolution of life histories, and the role of hormonal pleiotropy in driving or constraining evolution.

scholarly journals The energy allocation trade-offs underlying life history traits in hypometabolic strepsirhines and other primates

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Simmen ◽  
Luca Morino ◽  
Stéphane Blanc ◽  
Cécile Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Energy Expenditure ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Energy Allocation ◽  
Interbirth Interval ◽  
Energy Investment ◽  
Litter Mass ◽  
Trade Offs

AbstractLife history, brain size and energy expenditure scale with body mass in mammals but there is little conclusive evidence for a correlated evolution between life history and energy expenditure (either basal/resting or daily) independent of body mass. We addressed this question by examining the relationship between primate free-living daily energy expenditure (DEE) measured by doubly labeled water method (n = 18 species), life history variables (maximum lifespan, gestation and lactation duration, interbirth interval, litter mass, age at first reproduction), resting metabolic rate (RMR) and brain size. We also analyzed whether the hypometabolic primates of Madagascar (lemurs) make distinct energy allocation tradeoffs compared to other primates (monkeys and apes) with different life history traits and ecological constraints. None of the life-history traits correlated with DEE after controlling for body mass and phylogeny. In contrast, a regression model showed that DEE increased with increasing RMR and decreasing reproductive output (i.e., litter mass/interbirth interval) independent of body mass. Despite their low RMR and smaller brains, lemurs had an average DEE remarkably similar to that of haplorhines. The data suggest that lemurs have evolved energy strategies that maximize energy investment to survive in the unusually harsh and unpredictable environments of Madagascar at the expense of reproduction.

A Primer of Life Histories

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey A. Hutchings
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Reproductive Effort ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Academic Experience ◽  
Sustainable Exploitation ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
Opportune Time

Life histories describe how genotypes schedule their reproductive effort throughout life in response to factors that affect their survival and fecundity. Life histories are solutions that selection has produced to solve the problem of how to persist in a given environment. These solutions differ tremendously within and among species. Some organisms mature within months of attaining life, others within decades; some produce few, large offspring as opposed to numerous, small offspring; some reproduce many times throughout their lives while others die after reproducing just once. The exponential pace of life-history research provides an opportune time to engage and re-engage new generations of students and researchers on the fundamentals and applications of life-history theory. Chapters 1 through 4 describe the fundamentals of life-history theory. Chapters 5 through 8 focus on the evolution of life-history traits. Chapters 9 and 10 summarize how life-history theory and prediction has been applied within the contexts of conservation and sustainable exploitation. This primer offers an effective means of rendering the topic accessible to readers from a broad range of academic experience and research expertise.

scholarly journals Maternal investment, life histories and the evolution of brain structure in primates

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1911) ◽  
pp. 20191608 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren E. Powell ◽  
Robert A. Barton ◽  
Sally E. Street
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Maternal Investment ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Juvenile Period ◽  
Adult Lifespan

Life history is a robust correlate of relative brain size: larger-brained mammals and birds have slower life histories and longer lifespans than smaller-brained species. The cognitive buffer hypothesis (CBH) proposes an adaptive explanation for this relationship: large brains may permit greater behavioural flexibility and thereby buffer the animal from unpredictable environmental challenges, allowing for reduced mortality and increased lifespan. By contrast, the developmental costs hypothesis (DCH) suggests that life-history correlates of brain size reflect the extension of maturational processes needed to accommodate the evolution of large brains, predicting correlations with pre-adult life-history phases. Here, we test novel predictions of the hypotheses in primates applied to the neocortex and cerebellum, two major brain structures with distinct developmental trajectories. While neocortical growth is allocated primarily to pre-natal development, the cerebellum exhibits relatively substantial post-natal growth. Consistent with the DCH, neocortical expansion is related primarily to extended gestation while cerebellar expansion to extended post-natal development, particularly the juvenile period. Contrary to the CBH, adult lifespan explains relatively little variance in the whole brain or neocortex volume once pre-adult life-history phases are accounted for. Only the cerebellum shows a relationship with lifespan after accounting for developmental periods. Our results substantiate and elaborate on the role of maternal investment and offspring development in brain evolution, suggest that brain components can evolve partly independently through modifications of distinct developmental phases, and imply that environmental input during post-natal maturation may be particularly crucial for the development of cerebellar function. They also suggest that relatively extended post-natal maturation times provide a developmental mechanism for the marked expansion of the cerebellum in the apes.

scholarly journals Density Dependence, Evolutionary Optimization, and the Diversification of Avian Life Histories

The Condor ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 102 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. Ricklefs
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life Table ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Evolutionary Ecology ◽  
Reproductive Rate ◽  
Empirical Modeling ◽  
Adult Survival ◽  
Life History Variation ◽  
Evolutionary Response

Abstract Although we have learned much about avian life histories during the 50 years since the seminal publications of David Lack, Alexander Skutch, and Reginald Moreau, we still do not have adequate explanations for some of the basic patterns of variation in life-history traits among birds. In part, this reflects two consequences of the predominance of evolutionary ecology thinking during the past three decades. First, by blurring the distinction between life-history traits and life-table variables, we have tended to divorce life histories from their environmental context, which forms the link between the life history and the life table. Second, by emphasizing constrained evolutionary responses to selective factors, we have set aside alternative explanations for observed correlations among life-history traits and life-table variables. Density-dependent feedback and independent evolutionary response to correlated aspects of the environment also may link traits through different mechanisms. Additionally, in some cases we have failed to evaluate quantitatively ideas that are compelling qualitatively, ignored or explained away relevant empirical data, and neglected logical implications of certain compelling ideas. Comparative analysis of avian life histories shows that species are distributed along a dominant slow-fast axis. Furthermore, among birds, annual reproductive rate and adult mortality are directly proportional to each other, requiring that pre-reproductive survival is approximately constant. This further implies that age at maturity increases dramatically with increasing adult survival rate. The significance of these correlations is obscure, particularly because survival and reproductive rates at each age include the effects of many life-history traits. For example, reproductive rate is determined by clutch size, nesting success, season length, and nest-cycle length, each of which represents the outcome of many different interactions of an individual's life-history traits with its environment. Resolution of the most basic issues raised by patterns of life histories clearly will require innovative empirical, modeling, and experimental approaches. However, the most fundamental change required at this time is a broadening of the evolutionary ecology paradigm to include a variety of alternative mechanisms for generating patterns of life-history variation.

Brain size evolution in anurans: a review

2019 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chun Lan Mai ◽  
Wen Bo Liao
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Life History ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Sperm Length ◽  
Testis Size ◽  
Size Evolution

Abstract Selection pressure is an important force in shaping the evolution of vertebrate brain size among populations within species as well as between species. The evolution of brain size is tightly linked to natural and sexual selection, and life-history traits. In particular, increased environmental stress, intensity of sexual selection, and slower life history usually result in enlarged brains. However, although previous studies have addressed the causes of brain size evolution, no systematic reviews have been conducted to explain brain size in anurans. Here, we review whether brain size evolution supports the cognitive buffer hypothesis (CBH), the expensive tissue hypothesis (ETH), or the developmental cost hypothesis (DCH) by analyzing the intraspecific and/or interspecific patterns in brain size and brain regions (i.e., olfactory nerves, olfactory bulbs, telencephalon, optic tectum, and cerebellum) associated with ecological factors (habitat, diet and predator risk), sexual selection intensity, life-history traits (age at sexual maturity, mean age, longevity, clutch size and egg size, testis size and sperm length), and other energetic organs. Our findings suggest that brain size evolution in anurans supports the CBH, ETH or DCH. We also suggest future directions for studying the relationships between brain size evolution and crypsis (i.e., ordinary mucous glands in the skin), and food alteration in different developmental stages.

Life histories of North American game birds: a reanalysis

1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (8) ◽  
pp. 1906-1912 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd W. Arnold
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
North American ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Reproductive Effort ◽  
Cost Of Reproduction ◽  
Reproductive Value ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Game Birds ◽  
The Cost

Recently, Zammuto (R. M. Zammuto. 1986. Can. J. Zool. 64: 2739–2749) suggested that North American game birds exhibited survival–fecundity trade-offs consistent with the "cost of reproduction" hypothesis. However, there were four serious problems with the data and the analyses that Zammuto used: (i) the species chosen for analysis ("game birds") showed little taxonomic or ecological uniformity, (ii) the measures of future reproductive value (maximum longevity) were severely biased by unequal sample sizes of band recoveries, (iii) the measures of current reproductive effort (clutch sizes) were inappropriate given that most of the birds analyzed produce self-feeding precocial offspring, and (iv) the statistical units used in the majority of analyses (species) were not statistically independent with respect to higher level taxonomy. After correcting these problems, I found little evidence of survival–fecundity trade-offs among precocial game birds, and I attribute most of the explainable variation in life-history traits of these birds to allometry, phylogeny, and geography.

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