Nest complexity correlates with larger brain size but smaller body mass across bird species  

作　　者：Shaobin LI Yuxin LIU Xiaolong DU Guopan LI Wenbo LIAO 

机构地区：[1]College of Life Science,Yangtze University,Jingzhou,China [2]Key Laboratory of Southwest China Wildlife Resources Conservation(Ministry of Education),China West Normal University,Nanchong,China

出　　处：《Integrative Zoology》2024年第3期496-504,共9页整合动物学（英文版）

基　　金：Financial support was provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grants 32211530420 and 32170481).

摘　　要：Amniotes differ substantially in absolute and relative brain size after controlling for allometry,and numerous hypotheses have been proposed to explain brain size evolution.Brain size is thought to correlate with processing capacity and the brain’s ability to support complex manipulation such as nest-building skills.The increased complexity of nest structure is supposed to be a measure of an ability to manipulate nesting material into the required shape.The degree of nest-structure complexity is also supposed to be associated with body mass,partly because small species lose heat faster and delicate and insulated nests are more crucial for temperature control of eggs during incubation by small birds.Here,we conducted comparative analyses to test these hypotheses by investigating whether the complexity of species-typical nest structure can be explained by brain size and body mass(a covariate also to control for allometric effects on brain size)across 1353 bird species from 147 families.Consistent with these hypotheses,our results revealed that avian brain size increases as the complexity of the nest structure increases after controlling for a significant effect of body size,and also that a negative relationship exists between nest complexity and body mass.

关 键 词：body size brain size comparative analysis nest building nest type reproductive investment 

分 类 号：Q95[生物学—动物学]