Vincze Orsolya, Vágási Csongor I, Pap Péter L, Osváth Gergely, Møller Anders Pape
MTA-DE 'Lendület' Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, Egytem tér 1, 4032, Debrecen, Hungary Evolutionary Ecology Group, Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Clinicilor Street 5-7, 400006, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
MTA-DE 'Lendület' Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, Egytem tér 1, 4032, Debrecen, Hungary Evolutionary Ecology Group, Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Clinicilor Street 5-7, 400006, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Biol Lett. 2015 Nov;11(11). doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2015.0678.
Long-distance migratory birds have relatively smaller brains than short-distance migrants or residents. Here, we test whether reduction in brain size with migration distance can be generalized across the different brain regions suggested to play key roles in orientation during migration. Based on 152 bird species, belonging to 61 avian families from six continents, we show that the sizes of both the telencephalon and the whole brain decrease, and the relative size of the optic lobe increases, while cerebellum size does not change with increasing migration distance. Body mass, whole brain size, optic lobe size and wing aspect ratio together account for a remarkable 46% of interspecific variation in average migration distance across bird species. These results indicate that visual acuity might be a primary neural adaptation to the ecological challenge of migration.
长途候鸟的大脑相对比短途候鸟或留鸟的大脑小。在此，我们测试大脑大小随迁徙距离的减小是否能推广到在迁徙过程中被认为在定向方面起关键作用的不同脑区。基于来自六大洲61个鸟类科的152种鸟类，我们发现端脑和整个大脑的大小都减小，视叶的相对大小增加，而小脑大小不随迁徙距离增加而变化。体重、全脑大小、视叶大小和翼展比共同显著解释了鸟类物种间平均迁徙距离种间变异的46%。这些结果表明，视力可能是对迁徙生态挑战的一种主要神经适应性变化。
