Brain Structure and Correlation Patterns in Insectivora, Chiroptera, and Primates

Jolicœur, Pierre; Pirlot, Paul; Baron, Georg; Stephan, Heinz

doi:10.1093/sysbio/33.1.14

Cited by 37 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…This component structure of the Stephan data set [Stephan and Frahm, 1988] has been reported by several investigators who have submitted the Stephan data set to different types of factor analysis [Gould, 1975;Jolicoeur et al, 1984;Barton et al, 1995]. In our analysis, whole brain size accounted for 96.29% of the variance in the entire data set, and a factor that strongly loaded on the olfactory bulb but also loaded on a number of limbic system components accounted for another 3.0% [Finlay and Darlington, 1995].…”

Section: Subcomponent Structure In Brain Enlargement: the Limbic Systemmentioning

confidence: 58%

Patterns of Vertebrate Neurogenesis and the Paths of Vertebrate Evolution

Finlay

Hersman²,

Darlington³

1998

Brain Behav Evol

103

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Any substantial change in brain size requires a change in the number of neurons and their supporting elements in the brain, which in turn requires an alteration in either the rate, or the duration of neurogenesis. The schedule of neurogenesis is surprisingly stable in mammalian brains, and increases in the duration of neurogenesis have predictable outcomes: late-generated structures become disproportionately large. The olfactory bulb and associated limbic structures may deviate in some species from this general brain enlargement: in the rhesus monkey, reduction of limbic system size appears to be produced by an advance in the onset of terminal neurogenesis in limbic system structures. Not only neurogenesis but also many other features of neural maturation such as process extension and retraction, follow the same schedule with the same predictability. Although the underlying order of event onset remains the same for all of the mammals we have yet studied, changes in overall rate of neural maturation distinguish related subclasses, such as marsupial and placental mammals, and changes in duration of neurodevelopment distinguish species within subclasses. A substantial part of the regularity of event sequence in neurogenesis can be related directly to the two dimensions of the neuraxis in a recently proposed prosomeric segmentation of the forebrain [Rubenstein et al., Science, 266: 578, 1994]. Both the spatial and temporal organization of development have been highly conserved in mammalian brain evolution, showing strong constraint on the types of brain adaptations possible. The neural mechanisms for integrative behaviors may become localized to those locations that have enough plasticity in neuron number to support them.

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Section: Subcomponent Structure In Brain Enlargement: the Limbic Systemmentioning

confidence: 58%

Patterns of Vertebrate Neurogenesis and the Paths of Vertebrate Evolution

Finlay

Hersman²,

Darlington³

1998

Brain Behav Evol

103

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“…We also showed that phylogenetic constraints may act on the morphology of closely related species to a certain extent, making the use of independent contrasts a useful tool to reveal such effects. Previous studies on encephalization and brain regions in bats (and other mammals) found an influence of diet on brain size (Eisenberg & Wilson 1978;Pirlot & Jolicoeur 1982;Jolicoeur et al 1984;Harvey & Krebs 1990;Barton et al 1995;Hutcheon et al 2002). It has been speculated that it is not the nature of the food of animal taxa which directly influences brain size, but rather the variation in information storage and retrieval systems associated with diet (Eisenberg & Wilson 1978;Harvey & Krebs 1990).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptation of brain regions to habitat complexity: a comparative analysis in bats (Chiroptera)

2005

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Vertebrate brains are organized in modules which process information from sensory inputs selectively. Therefore they are probably under different evolutionary pressures. We investigated the impact of environmental influences on specific brain centres in bats. We showed in a phylogenetically independent contrast analysis that the wing area of a species corrected for body size correlated with estimates of habitat complexity. We subsequently compared wing area, as an indirect measure of habitat complexity, with the size of regions associated with hearing, olfaction and spatial memory, while controlling for phylogeny and body mass. The inferior colliculi, the largest sub-cortical auditory centre, showed a strong positive correlation with wing area in echolocating bats. The size of the main olfactory bulb did not increase with wing area, suggesting that the need for olfaction may not increase during the localization of food and orientation in denser habitat. As expected, a larger wing area was linked to a larger hippocampus in all bats. Our results suggest that morphological adaptations related to flight and neuronal capabilities as reflected by the sizes of brain regions coevolved under similar ecological pressures. Thus, habitat complexity presumably influenced and shaped sensory abilities in this mammalian order independently of each other.

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“…Here, the emphasis tends to be on the brain first and behavior or ecology second. In mammals, Jolicoeur et al [1984] suggest that variation in relative size of the isocortex is correlated with complexity of the ecological niche. In birds, assume that the larger relative size of the avian equivalent of the mammalian isocortex, the neostriatum/hyperstriatum ventrale (Neo-HV) complex, is the result of strong selection for multimodal integrative capacities and learning, allowing the occupation of a wide spectrum of ecological niches and food types.…”

Section: Comparative Neuroanatomymentioning

confidence: 99%

Brains, Innovations and Evolution in Birds and Primates

Lefebvre¹,

Reader²,

Sol³

2004

Brain Behav Evol

589

533

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Several comparative research programs have focused on the cognitive, life history and ecological traits that account for variation in brain size. We review one of these programs, a program that uses the reported frequency of behavioral innovation as an operational measure of cognition. In both birds and primates, innovation rate is positively correlated with the relative size of association areas in the brain, the hyperstriatum ventrale and neostriatum in birds and the isocortex and striatum in primates. Innovation rate is also positively correlated with the taxonomic distribution of tool use, as well as interspecific differences in learning. Some features of cognition have thus evolved in a remarkably similar way in primates and at least six phyletically-independent avian lineages. In birds, innovation rate is associated with the ability of species to deal with seasonal changes in the environment and to establish themselves in new regions, and it also appears to be related to the rate at which lineages diversify. Innovation rate provides a useful tool to quantify inter-taxon differences in cognition and to test classic hypotheses regarding the evolution of the brain.

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Brain Structure and Correlation Patterns in Insectivora, Chiroptera, and Primates

Cited by 37 publications

References 21 publications

Patterns of Vertebrate Neurogenesis and the Paths of Vertebrate Evolution

Patterns of Vertebrate Neurogenesis and the Paths of Vertebrate Evolution

Adaptation of brain regions to habitat complexity: a comparative analysis in bats (Chiroptera)

Brains, Innovations and Evolution in Birds and Primates

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