Predictable evolution towards larger brains in birds colonizing oceanic islands

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dc.contributor.authorSayol, Ferran
dc.contributor.authorDowning, Philip A.
dc.contributor.authorIwaniuk, Andrew N.
dc.contributor.authorMaspons, Joan
dc.contributor.authorSol, Daniel
dc.date.accessioned2025-07-23T22:39:42Z
dc.date.available2025-07-23T22:39:42Z
dc.date.issued2018
dc.descriptionOpen access article. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0) applies
dc.description.abstractTheory and evidence suggest that some selective pressures are more common on islands than in adjacent mainland habitats, leading evolution to follow predictable trends. The existence of predictable evolutionary trends has nonetheless been difficult to demonstrate, mainly because of the challenge of separating in situ evolution from sorting processes derived from colonization events. Here we use brain size measurements of >1900 avian species to reveal the existence of one such trend: increased brain size in island dwellers. Based on sister-taxa comparisons and phylogenetic ancestral trait estimations, we show that species living on islands have relatively larger brains than their mainland relatives and that these differences mainly reflect in situ evolution rather than varying colonization success. Our findings reinforce the view that in some instances evolution may be predictable, and yield insight into why some animals evolve larger brains despite substantial energetic and developmental costs.
dc.description.peer-reviewYes
dc.identifier.citationSayol, F., Downing, P. A., Iwaniuk, A. N., Maspons, J., & Sol, D. (2018). Predictable evolution towards larger brains in birds colonizing oceanic islands. Nature Communications, 9, Article 2820. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05280-8
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10133/7087
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherNature Portfolio
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Neuroscience
dc.publisher.facultyArts and Science
dc.publisher.institutionCREAF, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès)
dc.publisher.institutionLund University
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Lethbridge
dc.publisher.institutionCSIC, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès)
dc.publisher.urlhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05280-8
dc.subjectBehavioural ecology
dc.subjectMacroecology
dc.subjectPhylogenetics
dc.subjectEvolution
dc.subjectBrain size
dc.subjectLarger brains
dc.titlePredictable evolution towards larger brains in birds colonizing oceanic islands
dc.typeArticle
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