TY - JOUR
T1 - Down a Rabbit Hole
T2 - Burrowing Behaviour and Larger Home Ranges are Related to Larger Brains in Leporids
AU - Todorov, Orlin S.
AU - Hird, Coen
AU - Kraatz, Brian
AU - Sherratt, Emma
AU - Hill, Narelle
AU - de Sousa, Alexandra A.
AU - Blomberg, Simone
AU - Weisbecker, Vera
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Brain evolution
KW - Comparative methods
KW - Leporids
KW - Multiple imputation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85137804283&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/FT180100634
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/CE170100015
U2 - 10.1007/s10914-022-09624-6
DO - 10.1007/s10914-022-09624-6
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85137804283
VL - 29
SP - 957
EP - 967
JO - Journal of Mammalian Evolution
JF - Journal of Mammalian Evolution
SN - 1064-7554
IS - 4
ER -