Big brains stabilize populations and facilitate colonization of variable habitats in birds

• Published in: Nature ecology & evolution Vol. 1; no. 11; pp. 1706 - 1715
• Main Authors: Fristoe, Trevor S., Iwaniuk, Andrew N., Botero, Carlos A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.11.2017; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/158/1745; 631/158/852; 631/158/857; Animal Distribution; Animals; Biological and Physical Anthropology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Birds; Birds - anatomy & histology; Birds - physiology; Brain; Brain - anatomy & histology; Canada; Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive ability; Colonization; Ecology; Ecosystem; Evolution; Evolutionary Biology; Habitats; Hypotheses; Life Sciences; Organ Size; Paleontology; Phylogeny; Population Dynamics; United States; Variability; Zoology
• ISSN: 2397-334X; 2397-334X
• DOI: 10.1038/s41559-017-0316-2

The cognitive buffer hypothesis posits that environmental variability can be a major driver of the evolution of cognition because an enhanced ability to produce flexible behavioural responses facilitates coping with the unexpected. Although comparative evidence supports different aspects of this hyp...