Todorov, O.S, Hird, C, Kraatz, B, Sherratt, E, Hill, N, de Sousa, A.A 
ORCID: 0000-0003-2379-3894, Blomberg, S and Weisbecker, V
(2022)
'Down a rabbit hole: burrowing behaviour and larger home ranges are related to larger brains in leporids.'
Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 29.
pp. 957-967.
ISSN 1064-7554
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14964.pdf - Published Version CC BY 4.0. Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Studies on the evolution of brain size variation usually focus on large clades encompassing broad phylogenetic groups. This risks introducing ‘noise’ in the results, often obscuring effects that might be detected in less inclusive clades. Here, we focus on a sample of endocranial volumes (endocasts) of 18 species of rabbits and hares (Lagomorpha: Leporidae), which are a discrete radiation of mammals with a suitably large range of body sizes. Using 60 individuals, we test five popular hypotheses on brain size and olfactory bulb evolution in mammals. We also address the pervasive issue of missing data, using multiple phylogenetic imputations as to conserve the full sample size for all analyses. Our analyses show that home range and burrowing behaviour are the only predictors of leporid brain size variation. Litter size, which is one of the most widely reported constraints on brain size, was unexpectedly not associated with brain size. However, a constraining effect may be masked by a strong association of litter size with temperature seasonality, warranting further study. Lastly, we show that unreasonable estimations of phylogenetic signal (Pagel’s lamba) warrant additional caution when using small sample sizes, such as ours, in comparative studies.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Keywords: | brain evolution, leporids, comparative methods, multiple imputation |
| Divisions: | School of Sciences |
| Research Centres and Groups: | Psychology Research Centre for Health and Cognition |
| Identification Number: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-022-09624-6 |
| Related URLs: | |
| Date Deposited: | 14 Sep 2022 08:30 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Mar 2023 05:30 |
| URI / Page ID: | https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/14964 |
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