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Sexual selection impacts brain anatomy in frogs and toads

Natural selection is a major force in the evolution of vertebrate brain size, but the role of sexual selection in brain size evolution remains enigmatic. At least two opposing schools of thought predict a relationship between sexual selection and brain size. Sexual selection should facilitate the ev...

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Autores principales: Zeng, Yu, Lou, Shang Ling, Liao, Wen Bo, Jehle, Robert, Kotrschal, Alexander
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5513231/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28725383
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2459
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author Zeng, Yu
Lou, Shang Ling
Liao, Wen Bo
Jehle, Robert
Kotrschal, Alexander
author_facet Zeng, Yu
Lou, Shang Ling
Liao, Wen Bo
Jehle, Robert
Kotrschal, Alexander
author_sort Zeng, Yu
collection PubMed
description Natural selection is a major force in the evolution of vertebrate brain size, but the role of sexual selection in brain size evolution remains enigmatic. At least two opposing schools of thought predict a relationship between sexual selection and brain size. Sexual selection should facilitate the evolution of larger brains because better cognitive abilities may aid the competition for mates. However, it may also restrict brain size evolution due to energetic trade‐offs between brain tissue and sexually selected traits. Here, we examined the patterns of selection on brain size and brain anatomy in male anurans (frogs and toads), a group where the strength of sexual selection differs markedly among species, using a phylogenetically controlled generalized least‐squared (PGLS) regression analyses. The analysis revealed that in 43 Chinese anuran species, neither mating system, nor type of courtship, or testes mass was significantly associated with relative brain size. While none of those factors related to the relative size of olfactory nerves, optic tecta, telencephalon, and cerebellum, the olfactory bulbs were relatively larger in monogamous species and those using calls during courtship. Our findings support the mosaic model of brain evolution and suggest that while the investigated aspects of sexual selection do not seem to play a prominent role in the evolution of brain size of anurans, they do impact their brain anatomy.
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spelling pubmed-55132312017-07-19 Sexual selection impacts brain anatomy in frogs and toads Zeng, Yu Lou, Shang Ling Liao, Wen Bo Jehle, Robert Kotrschal, Alexander Ecol Evol Original Research Natural selection is a major force in the evolution of vertebrate brain size, but the role of sexual selection in brain size evolution remains enigmatic. At least two opposing schools of thought predict a relationship between sexual selection and brain size. Sexual selection should facilitate the evolution of larger brains because better cognitive abilities may aid the competition for mates. However, it may also restrict brain size evolution due to energetic trade‐offs between brain tissue and sexually selected traits. Here, we examined the patterns of selection on brain size and brain anatomy in male anurans (frogs and toads), a group where the strength of sexual selection differs markedly among species, using a phylogenetically controlled generalized least‐squared (PGLS) regression analyses. The analysis revealed that in 43 Chinese anuran species, neither mating system, nor type of courtship, or testes mass was significantly associated with relative brain size. While none of those factors related to the relative size of olfactory nerves, optic tecta, telencephalon, and cerebellum, the olfactory bulbs were relatively larger in monogamous species and those using calls during courtship. Our findings support the mosaic model of brain evolution and suggest that while the investigated aspects of sexual selection do not seem to play a prominent role in the evolution of brain size of anurans, they do impact their brain anatomy. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2016-09-12 /pmc/articles/PMC5513231/ /pubmed/28725383 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2459 Text en © 2016 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Research
Zeng, Yu
Lou, Shang Ling
Liao, Wen Bo
Jehle, Robert
Kotrschal, Alexander
Sexual selection impacts brain anatomy in frogs and toads
title Sexual selection impacts brain anatomy in frogs and toads
title_full Sexual selection impacts brain anatomy in frogs and toads
title_fullStr Sexual selection impacts brain anatomy in frogs and toads
title_full_unstemmed Sexual selection impacts brain anatomy in frogs and toads
title_short Sexual selection impacts brain anatomy in frogs and toads
title_sort sexual selection impacts brain anatomy in frogs and toads
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5513231/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28725383
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2459
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