| Records |
| Author |
Vallortigara, G.; Rogers, L.J. |
| Title |
Survival with an asymmetrical brain: advantages and disadvantages of cerebral lateralization |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2005 |
Publication |
The Behavioral and Brain Sciences |
Abbreviated Journal |
Behav Brain Sci |
| Volume |
28 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages  |
575-89; discussion 589-633 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Attention/*physiology; Behavior/*physiology; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; Dominance, Cerebral/*physiology; *Evolution; Humans; Models, Biological; Visual Perception/physiology |
| Abstract |
Recent evidence in natural and semi-natural settings has revealed a variety of left-right perceptual asymmetries among vertebrates. These include preferential use of the left or right visual hemifield during activities such as searching for food, agonistic responses, or escape from predators in animals as different as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. There are obvious disadvantages in showing such directional asymmetries because relevant stimuli may be located to the animal's left or right at random; there is no a priori association between the meaning of a stimulus (e.g., its being a predator or a food item) and its being located to the animal's left or right. Moreover, other organisms (e.g., predators) could exploit the predictability of behavior that arises from population-level lateral biases. It might be argued that lateralization of function enhances cognitive capacity and efficiency of the brain, thus counteracting the ecological disadvantages of lateral biases in behavior. However, such an increase in brain efficiency could be obtained by each individual being lateralized without any need to align the direction of the asymmetry in the majority of the individuals of the population. Here we argue that the alignment of the direction of behavioral asymmetries at the population level arises as an “evolutionarily stable strategy” under “social” pressures occurring when individually asymmetrical organisms must coordinate their behavior with the behavior of other asymmetrical organisms of the same or different species. |
| Address |
Department of Psychology and B.R.A.I.N. Centre for Neuroscience, University of Trieste, 34123 Trieste, Italy. vallorti@univ.trieste.it |
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| Language |
English |
Summary Language |
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Series Title |
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Abbreviated Series Title |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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| ISSN |
0140-525X |
ISBN |
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Expedition |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:16209828 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
4622 |
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| Author |
Wolf, M.; van Doorn, G.S.; Leimar, O.; Weissing, F.J. |
| Title |
Life-history trade-offs favour the evolution of animal personalities |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2007 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
447 |
Issue |
7144 |
Pages |
581-584 |
| Keywords |
Aggression/physiology/psychology; Animals; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; *Evolution; Exploratory Behavior/physiology; Models, Biological; Personality/*physiology; Predatory Behavior/physiology; Reproduction/physiology; Risk-Taking; Selection (Genetics) |
| Abstract |
In recent years evidence has been accumulating that personalities are not only found in humans but also in a wide range of other animal species. Individuals differ consistently in their behavioural tendencies and the behaviour in one context is correlated with the behaviour in multiple other contexts. From an adaptive perspective, the evolution of animal personalities is still a mystery, because a more flexible structure of behaviour should provide a selective advantage. Accordingly, many researchers view personalities as resulting from constraints imposed by the architecture of behaviour (but see ref. 12). In contrast, we show here that animal personalities can be given an adaptive explanation. Our argument is based on the insight that the trade-off between current and future reproduction often results in polymorphic populations in which some individuals put more emphasis on future fitness returns than others. Life-history theory predicts that such differences in fitness expectations should result in systematic differences in risk-taking behaviour. Individuals with high future expectations (who have much to lose) should be more risk-averse than individuals with low expectations. This applies to all kinds of risky situations, so individuals should consistently differ in their behaviour. By means of an evolutionary model we demonstrate that this basic principle results in the evolution of animal personalities. It simultaneously explains the coexistence of behavioural types, the consistency of behaviour through time and the structure of behavioural correlations across contexts. Moreover, it explains the common finding that explorative behaviour and risk-related traits like boldness and aggressiveness are common characteristics of animal personalities. |
| Address |
Theoretical Biology Group, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, Kerklaan 30, 9751 NN Haren, The Netherlands |
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English |
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Series Title |
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Abbreviated Series Title |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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| ISSN |
1476-4687 |
ISBN |
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Medium |
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| Notes |
PMID:17538618 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
4098 |
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| Author |
Fenton, B.; Ratcliffe, J. |
| Title |
Animal behaviour: eavesdropping on bats |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
429 |
Issue |
6992 |
Pages |
612-613 |
| Keywords |
Acoustics; Animals; Chiroptera/anatomy & histology/classification/genetics/*physiology; Echolocation/*physiology; *Evolution; Phylogeny; Predatory Behavior/physiology; Species Specificity |
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English |
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Abbreviated Series Title |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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| ISSN |
1476-4687 |
ISBN |
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Medium |
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Expedition |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:15190335 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
500 |
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| Author |
Nettle, D. |
| Title |
The evolution of personality variation in humans and other animals |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
The American Psychologist |
Abbreviated Journal |
Am Psychol |
| Volume |
61 |
Issue |
6 |
Pages |
622-631 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Birds; *Evolution; Female; Fishes; Humans; Insects; Male; Personality/*genetics/*physiology |
| Abstract |
A comprehensive evolutionary framework for understanding the maintenance of heritable behavioral variation in humans is yet to be developed. Some evolutionary psychologists have argued that heritable variation will not be found in important, fitness-relevant characteristics because of the winnowing effect of natural selection. This article propounds the opposite view. Heritable variation is ubiquitous in all species, and there are a number of frameworks for understanding its persistence. The author argues that each of the Big Five dimensions of human personality can be seen as the result of a trade-off between different fitness costs and benefits. As there is no unconditionally optimal value of these trade-offs, it is to be expected that genetic diversity will be retained in the population. |
| Address |
University of Newcastle, Newcastle, United Kingdom. daniel.nettle@ncl.ac.uk |
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English |
Summary Language |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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| ISSN |
0003-066X |
ISBN |
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Medium |
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Expedition |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:16953749 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
4105 |
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| Author |
Yokoyama, S.; Radlwimmer, F.B. |
| Title |
The molecular genetics of red and green color vision in mammals |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
1999 |
Publication |
Genetics |
Abbreviated Journal |
Genetics |
| Volume |
153 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
919-932 |
| Keywords |
Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Base Sequence; COS Cells; Cats; Color Perception/*genetics; DNA Primers; Deer; Dolphins; *Evolution, Molecular; Goats; Guinea Pigs; Horses; Humans; Mammals/*genetics/physiology; Mice; Molecular Sequence Data; Opsin/biosynthesis/chemistry/*genetics; *Phylogeny; Rabbits; Rats; Recombinant Proteins/biosynthesis; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Sciuridae; Sequence Alignment; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Transfection |
| Abstract |
To elucidate the molecular mechanisms of red-green color vision in mammals, we have cloned and sequenced the red and green opsin cDNAs of cat (Felis catus), horse (Equus caballus), gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), and guinea pig (Cavia porcellus). These opsins were expressed in COS1 cells and reconstituted with 11-cis-retinal. The purified visual pigments of the cat, horse, squirrel, deer, and guinea pig have lambdamax values at 553, 545, 532, 531, and 516 nm, respectively, which are precise to within +/-1 nm. We also regenerated the “true” red pigment of goldfish (Carassius auratus), which has a lambdamax value at 559 +/- 4 nm. Multiple linear regression analyses show that S180A, H197Y, Y277F, T285A, and A308S shift the lambdamax values of the red and green pigments in mammals toward blue by 7, 28, 7, 15, and 16 nm, respectively, and the reverse amino acid changes toward red by the same extents. The additive effects of these amino acid changes fully explain the red-green color vision in a wide range of mammalian species, goldfish, American chameleon (Anolis carolinensis), and pigeon (Columba livia). |
| Address |
Department of Biology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244, USA. syokoyam@mailbox.syr.edu |
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English |
Summary Language |
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Edition |
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| ISSN |
0016-6731 |
ISBN |
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Medium |
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Expedition |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:10511567 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
4063 |
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| Author |
Real, L.A. |
| Title |
Animal choice behavior and the evolution of cognitive architecture |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
1991 |
Publication |
Science (New York, N.Y.) |
Abbreviated Journal |
Science |
| Volume |
253 |
Issue |
5023 |
Pages |
980-986 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Bees/genetics/*physiology; Biomechanics; *Choice Behavior; *Cognition; *Evolution; Mathematics; Models, Genetic; Probability |
| Abstract |
Animals process sensory information according to specific computational rules and, subsequently, form representations of their environments that form the basis for decisions and choices. The specific computational rules used by organisms will often be evolutionarily adaptive by generating higher probabilities of survival, reproduction, and resource acquisition. Experiments with enclosed colonies of bumblebees constrained to foraging on artificial flowers suggest that the bumblebee's cognitive architecture is designed to efficiently exploit floral resources from spatially structured environments given limits on memory and the neuronal processing of information. A non-linear relationship between the biomechanics of nectar extraction and rates of net energetic gain by individual bees may account for sensitivities to both the arithmetic mean and variance in reward distributions in flowers. Heuristic rules that lead to efficient resource exploitation may also lead to subjective misperception of likelihoods. Subjective probability formation may then be viewed as a problem in pattern recognition subject to specific sampling schemes and memory constraints. |
| Address |
Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27599-3280 |
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Thesis |
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Place of Publication |
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| Language |
English |
Summary Language |
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Original Title |
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Series Title |
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Abbreviated Series Title |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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| ISSN |
0036-8075 |
ISBN |
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Medium |
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Expedition |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:1887231 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2846 |
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| Author |
Mulcahy, N.J.; Call, J. |
| Title |
Apes save tools for future use |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Science (New York, N.Y.) |
Abbreviated Journal |
Science |
| Volume |
312 |
Issue |
5776 |
Pages |
1038-1040 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Association Learning; *Cognition; *Evolution; *Mental Processes; *Pan paniscus; Pan troglodytes; *Pongo pygmaeus |
| Abstract |
Planning for future needs, not just current ones, is one of the most formidable human cognitive achievements. Whether this skill is a uniquely human adaptation is a controversial issue. In a study we conducted, bonobos and orangutans selected, transported, and saved appropriate tools above baseline levels to use them 1 hour later (experiment 1). Experiment 2 extended these results to a 14-hour delay between collecting and using the tools. Experiment 3 showed that seeing the apparatus during tool selection was not necessary to succeed. These findings suggest that the precursor skills for planning for the future evolved in great apes before 14 million years ago, when all extant great ape species shared a common ancestor. |
| Address |
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany |
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English |
Summary Language |
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Original Title |
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Series Title |
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Abbreviated Series Title |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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| ISSN |
1095-9203 |
ISBN |
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Medium |
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| Area |
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Expedition |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:16709782 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
466 |
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| Author |
Dunbar, R. |
| Title |
Evolution of the social brain |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2003 |
Publication |
Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Science |
| Volume |
302 |
Issue |
5648 |
Pages |
1160-1161 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Animals, Wild; *Cognition; Endorphins/physiology; *Evolution; Female; Grooming; Hierarchy, Social; Language; Neocortex/anatomy & histology/physiology; Papio/physiology/*psychology; *Reproduction; *Social Behavior; Social Dominance; Social Support; Vocalization, Animal |
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| Address |
School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZB, UK. rimd@liv.ac.uk |
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English |
Summary Language |
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Series Title |
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Abbreviated Series Title |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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| ISSN |
1095-9203 |
ISBN |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:14615522 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
548 |
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| Author |
Joffe, T.H.; Dunbar, R.I. |
| Title |
Visual and socio-cognitive information processing in primate brain evolution |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
1997 |
Publication |
Proceedings. Biological Sciences / The Royal Society |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc Biol Sci |
| Volume |
264 |
Issue |
1386 |
Pages |
1303-1307 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Brain/anatomy & histology/*physiology; Cognition/physiology; *Evolution; Geniculate Bodies/anatomy & histology/physiology; Humans; Mental Processes/physiology; Neocortex/physiology; Primates/anatomy & histology/*physiology/*psychology; *Social Behavior; Visual Cortex/anatomy & histology/physiology |
| Abstract |
Social group size has been shown to correlate with neocortex size in primates. Here we use comparative analyses to show that social group size is independently correlated with the size of non-V1 neocortical areas, but not with other more proximate components of the visual system or with brain systems associated with emotional cueing (e.g. the amygdala). We argue that visual brain components serve as a social information 'input device' for socio-visual stimuli such as facial expressions, bodily gestures and visual status markers, while the non-visual neocortex serves as a 'processing device' whereby these social cues are encoded, interpreted and associated with stored information. However, the second appears to have greater overall importance because the size of the V1 visual area appears to reach an asymptotic size beyond which visual acuity and pattern recognition may not improve significantly. This is especially true of the great ape clade (including humans), that is known to use more sophisticated social cognitive strategies. |
| Address |
School of Life Sciences, University of Liverpool, UK |
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English |
Summary Language |
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Original Title |
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Series Title |
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Abbreviated Series Title |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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| ISSN |
0962-8452 |
ISBN |
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Medium |
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Expedition |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:9332015 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
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Serial |
2095 |
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| Author |
Cameron, E.Z. |
| Title |
Facultative adjustment of mammalian sex ratios in support of the Trivers-Willard hypothesis: evidence for a mechanism |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc Biol Sci |
| Volume |
271 |
Issue |
1549 |
Pages |
1723-1728 |
| Keywords |
Age Factors; Animals; Body Constitution; *Evolution; Female; Glucose/metabolism/physiology; Litter Size; Male; Mammals/*physiology; *Models, Biological; Reproduction/physiology; Seasons; Sex Factors; *Sex Ratio; Time Factors |
| Abstract |
Evolutionary theory predicts that mothers of different condition should adjust the birth sex ratio of their offspring in relation to future reproductive benefits. Published studies addressing variation in mammalian sex ratios have produced surprisingly contradictory results. Explaining the source of such variation has been a challenge for sex-ratio theory, not least because no mechanism for sex-ratio adjustment is known. I conducted a meta-analysis of previous mammalian sex-ratio studies to determine if there are any overall patterns in sex-ratio variation. The contradictory nature of previous results was confirmed. However, studies that investigated indices of condition around conception show almost unanimous support for the prediction that mothers in good condition bias their litters towards sons. Recent research on the role of glucose in reproductive functioning have shown that excess glucose favours the development of male blastocysts, providing a potential mechanism for sex-ratio variation in relation to maternal condition around conception. Furthermore, many of the conflicting results from studies on sex-ratio adjustment would be explained if glucose levels in utero during early cell division contributed to the determination of offspring sex ratios. |
| Address |
Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa. ezcameron@zoology.up.ac.za |
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English |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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0962-8452 |
ISBN |
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Expedition |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:15306293 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
413 |
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