scholarly journals Selection for relative brain size affects context-dependent male preference for, but not discrimination of, female body size in guppies

2018 ◽  
Vol 221 (12) ◽  
pp. jeb175240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Corral-López ◽  
Alexander Kotrschal ◽  
Niclas Kolm
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Male Preference ◽  
Female Body Size ◽  
Relative Brain Size ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Context Dependent

scholarly journals Do Different Methods Yield Equivalent Estimations of Brain Size in Birds?

2020 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-122
Author(s):  
Diego Ocampo ◽  
César Sánchez ◽  
Gilbert Barrantes
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Brain Mass ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Evolutionary Studies ◽  
Relative Brain Size ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Endocranial Volume ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Size Estimates

The ratio of brain size to body size (relative brain size) is often used as a measure of relative investment in the brain in ecological and evolutionary studies on a wide range of animal groups. In birds, a variety of methods have been used to measure the brain size part of this ratio, including endocranial volume, fixed brain mass, and fresh brain mass. It is still unclear, however, whether these methods yield the same results. Using data obtained from fresh corpses and from published sources, this study shows that endocranial volume, mass of fixed brain tissue, and fresh mass provide equivalent estimations of brain size for 48 bird families, in 19 orders. We found, however, that the various methods yield significantly different brain size estimates for hummingbirds (Trochilidae). For hummingbirds, fixed brain mass tends to underestimate brain size due to reduced tissue density, whereas endocranial volume overestimates brain size because it includes a larger volume than that occupied by the brain.

scholarly journals Survival of Female Lesser Scaup: Effects of Body Size, Age, and Reproductive Effort

The Condor ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 105 (2) ◽  
pp. 336-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay J. Rotella ◽  
Robert G. Clark ◽  
Alan D. Afton
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Reproductive Effort ◽  
Cost Of Reproduction ◽  
Aythya Affinis ◽  
Female Body Size ◽  
Lesser Scaup ◽  
Adult Females ◽  
Breeding Propensity

AbstractIn birds, larger females generally have greater breeding propensity, reproductive investment, and success than do smaller females. However, optimal female body size also depends on how natural selection acts during other parts of the life cycle. Larger female Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis) produce larger eggs than do smaller females, and ducklings from larger eggs survive better than those hatching from smaller eggs. Accordingly, we examined patterns of apparent annual survival for female scaup and tested whether natural selection on female body size primarily was stabilizing, a frequent assumption in studies of sexually dimorphic species in which males are the larger sex, or was directional, counteracting reproductive advantages of large size. We estimated survival using mark-recapture methods for individually marked females from two study sites in Canada (Erickson, Manitoba; St. Denis, Saskatchewan). Structurally larger (adults) and heavier (ducklings) females had lower survival than did smaller individuals in Manitoba; no relationship was detected in adults from Saskatchewan. Survival of adult females declined with indices of increasing reproductive effort at both sites; consequently, the cost of reproduction could explain age-related patterns of breeding propensity in scaup. Furthermore, if larger females are more likely to breed than are smaller females, then cost of reproduction also may help explain why survival was lower for larger females. Overall, we found that advantages of large body size of female scaup during breeding or as young ducklings apparently were counteracted by natural selection favoring lightweight juveniles and structurally smaller adult females through higher annual survival.Sobrevivencia de Aythya affinis: Efectos del Tamaño Corporal, Edad y Esfuerzo ReproductivoResumen. En las aves, las hembras de mayor tamaño generalmente presentan una mayor predisposición a la reproducción, mayor inversión reproductiva y mayor éxito que las hembras de menor tamaño. Sin embargo, el tamaño óptimo de la hembra también depende de cómo la selección natural opera durante otras etapas del ciclo de vida. Hembras de Aythya affinis más grandes producen huevos de mayor tamaño que hembras más pequeñas, y los polluelos provenientes de huevos más grandes sobreviven mejor que aquellos que eclosionan de huevos más pequeños. Consiguientemente, examinamos los patrones de sobrevivencia anual aparente para hembras de A. affinis y probamos si la selección natural sobre el tamaño del cuerpo de las hembras era principalmente estabilizadora (una suposición frecuente en estudios de especies sexualmente dimórficas en que los machos son el sexo mayor), o era direccional, contrarrestando las ventajas reproductivas de un tamaño mayor. Estimamos la sobrevivencia de hembras utilizando métodos de marcaje y recaptura en dos sitios de estudio (Erickson, Manitoba; St. Denis, Saskatchewan). Hembras estructuralmente más grandes (adultas) y más pesadas (polluelos) tuvieron una menor sobrevivencia que individuos más pequeños en Manitoba; no se detectó una relación entre adultos de Saskatchewan. En ambos sitios la sobrevivencia de hembras adultas decreció con los índices de incremento de esfuerzo reproductivo; consecuentemente el costo reproductivo podría explicar los patrones de predisposición reproductiva relacionados a la edad en A. affinis. Además, si las hembras de mayor tamaño presentan mayor probabilidad de reproducirse que las hembras pequeñas, entonces el costo reproductivo también podría ayudar a explicar porqué la sobrevivencia fue menor para hembras más grandes. En general encontramos que en las hembras de A. affinis las ventajas de un tamaño corporal grande durante la cría o como juveniles fueron aparentemente contrarestadas por la selección natural que favorece juveniles de peso liviano y hembras adultas estructuralmente más pequeñas a través de una mayor sobrevivencia anual.

Media Context, Female Body Size and Perceived Realism

Sex Roles ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 60 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 128-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia A. Barriga ◽  
Michael A. Shapiro ◽  
Rayna Jhaveri
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Perceived Realism ◽  
Female Body Size

scholarly journals Investigating the link between television viewing and men's preferences for female body size and shape in rural Nicaragua

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 538-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracey Thornborrow ◽  
Jean-Luc Jucker ◽  
Lynda G. Boothroyd ◽  
Martin J. Tovée
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Television Viewing ◽  
Size And Shape ◽  
Female Body Size

scholarly journals Selection for reduced fear in red junglefowl changes brain composition and affects fear memory

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 200628
Author(s):  
Rebecca Katajamaa ◽  
Per Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Prior Experience ◽  
Fear Memory ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Preference Learning ◽  
Response To Selection ◽  
Red Junglefowl ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Region Size

Brain size reduction is a common trait in domesticated species when compared to wild conspecifics. This reduction can happen through changes in individual brain regions as a response to selection on specific behaviours. We selected red junglefowl for 10 generations for diverging levels of fear towards humans and measured brain size and composition as well as habituation learning and conditioned place preference learning in young chicks. Brain size relative to body size as well as brainstem region size relative to whole brain size were significantly smaller in chicks selected for low fear of humans compared to chicks selected for high fear of humans. However, when including allometric effects in the model, these differences disappear but a tendency towards larger cerebra in low-fear chickens remains. Low-fear line chicks habituated more effectively to a fearful stimulus with prior experience of that same stimulus, whereas high-fear line chicks with previous experience of the stimulus had a response similar to naive chicks. The phenotypical changes are in line with previously described effects of domestication.

Receiver female body size and distances affect the claw-waving rate of signaller males in fiddler crabs (Brachyura, Ocypodidae)

Behaviour ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 155 (10-12) ◽  
pp. 905-914 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fahmida W. Tina ◽  
M. Jaroensutasinee ◽  
K. Jaroensutasinee
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Carapace Width ◽  
Fiddler Crabs ◽  
Female Body Size ◽  
Waving Display ◽  
Body Sizes ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
First Time ◽  
Close Distance

Abstract We tested for the first time how Austruca bengali Crane, 1975 signaller males adjusted their waving rates based on receiver female body sizes and their distances. We video recorded the waving display of 46 males (9–12 mm carapace width) for 30 s, and counted their waving rate. Receiver females were categorised as small (8–10 mm carapace width) and large (>10 mm). Distances between males and females were categorised as short (⩽12 cm) and long (>12 cm) distances. Our results indicate that males are able to measure distances and female sizes, and adjust their waving display by actively reducing waving rate (1) towards small females, as usually small females have lower fecundity compared to large ones and (2) towards females at very close distance because at this point, the females would make their mating decision, and thus males start to lead/hit the females towards their burrow rather than waving vigorously.

scholarly journals Rethinking the Effects of Body Size on the Study of Brain Size Evolution

2019 ◽  
Vol 93 (4) ◽  
pp. 182-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrique Font ◽  
Roberto García-Roa ◽  
Daniel Pincheira-Donoso ◽  
Pau Carazo
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Scaling Effects ◽  
Selection Pressures ◽  
Body Tissues ◽  
Relative Brain Size ◽  
Functional Components ◽  
The Brain

Body size correlates with most structural and functional components of an organism’s phenotype – brain size being a prime example of allometric scaling with animal size. Therefore, comparative studies of brain evolution in vertebrates rely on controlling for the scaling effects of body size variation on brain size variation by calculating brain weight/body weight ratios. Differences in the brain size-body size relationship between taxa are usually interpreted as differences in selection acting on the brain or its components, while selection pressures acting on body size, which are among the most prevalent in nature, are rarely acknowledged, leading to conflicting and confusing conclusions. We address these problems by comparing brain-body relationships from across >1,000 species of birds and non-avian reptiles. Relative brain size in birds is often assumed to be 10 times larger than in reptiles of similar body size. We examine how differences in the specific gravity of body tissues and in body design (e.g., presence/absence of a tail or a dense shell) between these two groups can affect estimates of relative brain size. Using phylogenetic comparative analyses, we show that the gap in relative brain size between birds and reptiles has been grossly exaggerated. Our results highlight the need to take into account differences between taxa arising from selection pressures affecting body size and design, and call into question the widespread misconception that reptile brains are small and incapable of supporting sophisticated behavior and cognition.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document