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Journal article

Metabolic costs of brain size evolution.

  • Isler K Anthropologisches Institut und Museum, Universität Zürich-Irchel, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland. kisler@aim.unizh.ch
  • van Schaik CP
  • 2006-12-07
Published in:
  • Biology letters. - 2006
Animals
Basal Metabolism
Biological Evolution
Brain
Least-Squares Analysis
Mammals
Statistics as Topic
English In the ongoing discussion about brain evolution in vertebrates, the main interest has shifted from theories focusing on energy balance to theories proposing social or ecological benefits of enhanced intellect. With the availability of a wealth of new data on basal metabolic rate (BMR) and brain size and with the aid of reliable techniques of comparative analysis, we are able to show that in fact energetics is an issue in the maintenance of a relatively large brain, and that brain size is positively correlated with the BMR in mammals, controlling for body size effects. We conclude that attempts to explain brain size variation in different taxa must consider the ability to sustain the energy costs alongside cognitive benefits.
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  • English
Open access status
green
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https://sonar.ch/global/documents/132968
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