Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zurich-Irchel, Switzerland.
Bioessays. 2011 Mar;33(3):173-9. doi: 10.1002/bies.201000123. Epub 2011 Jan 21.
Recently, Weisbecker and Goswami presented the first comprehensive comparative analysis of brain size, metabolic rate, and development periods in marsupial mammals. In this paper, a strictly energetic perspective is applied to identify general mammalian correlates of brain size evolution. In both marsupials and placentals, the duration or intensity of maternal investment is a key correlate of relative brain size, but here I show that allomaternal energy subsidies may also play a role. In marsupials, an energetic constraint on brain size in adults is only revealed if we consider both metabolic and reproductive rates simultaneously, because a strong trade-off between encephalization and offspring production masks the positive correlation between basal metabolic rate and brain size in a bivariate comparison. In conclusion, starting from an energetic perspective is warranted to elucidate relations between ecology, social systems, life history, and brain size in all mammals.
最近，魏斯贝克和戈斯瓦米提出了对有袋哺乳动物大脑大小、代谢率和发育期的首次全面比较分析。在本文中，应用严格的能量观点来确定大脑大小进化的一般哺乳动物相关性。在有袋类和胎盘类动物中，母体投资的持续时间或强度是相对大脑大小的关键相关因素，但我在这里表明，同种异体能量补贴也可能发挥作用。在有袋类动物中，如果我们同时考虑代谢和生殖率，那么大脑大小在成年期的能量限制才会显现出来，因为在二元比较中，大脑发育和后代繁殖之间的强烈权衡关系掩盖了基础代谢率和大脑大小之间的正相关关系。总之，从能量角度出发来阐明所有哺乳动物的生态、社会系统、生活史和大脑大小之间的关系是合理的。
