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Author Sol, D.
Title Behavioural flexibility: a neglected issue in the ecological and evolutionary literature Type Book Chapter
Year 2003 Publication Animal innovation. Abbreviated Journal
Volume Issue Pages 63-82
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Publisher Oxford University Press Place of Publication Oxford Editor S. M. Reader and K. N. Laland
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 6532
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Author Sol, D.; Duncan, R.P.; Blackburn, T.M.; Cassey, P.; Lefebvre, L.
Title Big brains, enhanced cognition, and response of birds to novel environments Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Abbreviated Journal Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
Volume 102 Issue 15 Pages 5460-5465
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Abstract The widely held hypothesis that enlarged brains have evolved as an adaptation to cope with novel or altered environmental conditions lacks firm empirical support. Here, we test this hypothesis for a major animal group (birds) by examining whether large-brained species show higher survival than small-brained species when introduced to nonnative locations. Using a global database documenting the outcome of >600 introduction events, we confirm that avian species with larger brains, relative to their body mass, tend to be more successful at establishing themselves in novel environments. Moreover, we provide evidence that larger brains help birds respond to novel conditions by enhancing their innovation propensity rather than indirectly through noncognitive mechanisms. These findings provide strong evidence for the hypothesis that enlarged brains function, and hence may have evolved, to deal with changes in the environment.
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Notes 10.1073/pnas.0408145102 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4739
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Author Lefebvre, L.; Reader, S.M.; Sol, D.
Title Brains, Innovations and Evolution in Birds and Primates Type Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication Brain, Behavior and Evolution Abbreviated Journal Brain. Behav. Evol.
Volume 63 Issue 4 Pages 233-246
Keywords Innovation W Brain evolution W Hyperstriatum ventrale W Neostriatum W Isocortex W Birds W Primates W Tool use W Invasion biology
Abstract Abstract

Several comparative research programs have focusedon the cognitive, life history and ecological traits thataccount for variation in brain size. We review one ofthese programs, a program that uses the reported frequencyof behavioral innovation as an operational measureof cognition. In both birds and primates, innovationrate is positively correlated with the relative size of associationareas in the brain, the hyperstriatum ventrale andneostriatum in birds and the isocortex and striatum inprimates. Innovation rate is also positively correlatedwith the taxonomic distribution of tool use, as well asinterspecific differences in learning. Some features ofcognition have thus evolved in a remarkably similar wayin primates and at least six phyletically-independent avianlineages. In birds, innovation rate is associated withthe ability of species to deal with seasonal changes in theenvironment and to establish themselves in new regions,and it also appears to be related to the rate atwhich lineages diversify. Innovation rate provides a usefultool to quantify inter-taxon differences in cognitionand to test classic hypotheses regarding the evolution ofthe brain.
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ISSN 0006-8977 ISBN Medium
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4738
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