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Cited by 354Primate Behavior and EcologyEvolution and Paleontology StudiesComparative Animal Anatomy Studies

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 80 of the 82 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Evolutionary radiation of visual and olfactory brain systems in primates, bats and insectivores

Barton, R. A., Purvis, A., Harvey, P. H.·1995·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences
DOI 10.1098/rstb.1995.0076
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Abstract

How brains have evolved in response to particular selection pressures is illuminated by ecological correlates of differences in brain structure among contemporary species. The focus of most comparative studies has been on the overall size of brains relative to body size, hence ignoring the ways in which selection operates on specific neural systems. Here we investigate evolutionary radiations in the size of visual and olfactory brain structures within three orders of mammals: primates, bats and insectivores. The comparative relationships within these three orders show both similarities and differences. After removal of the allometric effect of overall brain size, the sizes of different structures within each sensory modality are positively correlated in all three orders. Correlations between visual and olfactory structures, however, are negative in primates, negative but non-significant in insectivores, and positive in bats. In both primates and insectivores, nocturnal lineages tend to have larger olfactory structures than do diurnal or partly diurnal lineages, and among the primates diurnal lineages have larger striate visual cortexes. Hence the apparent trade-off between vision and olfaction in primates seems to be related to the divergence of nocturnal and diurnal forms. However, negative correlations between visual and olfactory structures were also found when nocturnal strepsirhines and diurnal haplorhines were analysed separately, suggesting that ecological variables in addition to activity timing may be significant. Indeed, there were also associations with diet: frugivory was associated with enlargements of the geniculostriate visual system in diurnal primates, enlargements of olfactory structures in nocturnal primates, and possibly enlargements of both in bats. Further ecological associations were found within insectivores: aquatic lineages had smaller olfactory structures than in their non-aquatic counterparts, and fossorial lineages had smaller optic nerves than in non-fossorial forms. We conclude that activity timing, diet and habitat have each played a role in the evolutionary radiation of mammalian sensory systems, but with varying effects in the different taxa. Some of the associations between ecology and sensory systems suggest alternative explanations for correlates of overall brain size, which have in the past commonly been interpreted in terms of selection on intelligence.

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2 of the 82 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 11

  1. York: Plenum Press.
  2. Allman J.M . 1987 Primates evolution of the brain in. In The Oxford companion to the mind (ed. R.L. Gregory) pp. 633-639. Oxford University Press.
  3. Eisenberg J.F. 1981 The mammalian radiations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  4. Ford S.M. 1986 Systematics of the New World monkeys. In Comparative primate biology (ed. D. R. Swindler & J. Erwin) pp. 73-135. New York: Alan R. Liss.
  5. Owen R.D., 1987, Phylogenetic analysis of the bat subfamily Stenodermatinae (Mammalia: Chiroptera), Spec. Publ. Mus. Texas Tech. Univ., 26, 1
  6. Purvis A. 1991 Comparative Analysis by Independent Contrasts (C.A.I.C): a statistical package for the Apple Macintosh. Unpublished manuscript Department of Zoology University of Oxford England.
  7. Ruvolo M. 1988 Genetic evolution in the African guenons. In Evolutionary biology of the African guenons (ed. A. Gautier-Hion F. Bourliere J.-P. Gautier & J. D. Kingdon) pp. 15-45. Cambridge University Press.
  8. Schwartz J.H . 1986 Primate systematics and a classification of the order. In Comparative primate biology (ed. D. R. Swindler & J. Erwin) pp. 1-41. New York: Alan R. Liss.
  9. Siegel S. 1956 Non parametric statisticsfor the behavioral sciences. London: McGraw-Hill.
  10. van Valen L., 1979, The evolution of bats, Theory, 4, 103
  11. Zeki S. 1993 A vision of the brain. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.

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Metadata

Authors
Barton, R. A., Purvis, A., & Harvey, P. H.
Affiliations
  • Durham University (GB)
  • University of Oxford (GB)
ORCID
Venue
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences
Publisher
The Royal Society
Published
1995-06-29
Volume
348
Issue
1326
Pages
381-392
ISSN
  • 0962-8436 (ISSN-L)
  • 1471-2970
DOI
10.1098/rstb.1995.0076
OpenAlex
W2091013848
Cited by
352
References
82
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 51 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 9
FWCI
10.64
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Primate Behavior and Ecology
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Evolution and Paleontology Studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Anatomy › Comparative Animal Anatomy Studies
Keywords
brain evolution, visual system, olfactory system, primates, bats, insectivores, diurnal activity, frugivory, diet, activity timing, habitat, fossoriality, aquatic adaptation, optic nerve, strepsirrhines, haplorhines
MeSH terms
Adaptation, Biological, Animals, Chiroptera, Ecology, Biological Evolution, Eulipotyphla, Mammals, Olfactory Pathways, Organ Size, Primates, Visual Pathways

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