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Differential investment in visual and olfactory brain areas reflects behavioural choices in hawk moths

Stöckl, Anna LU ; Heinze, Stanley LU ; Charalabidis, Alice ; El Jundi, Basil LU ; Warrant, Eric LU orcid and Kelber, Almut LU (2016) In Scientific Reports 6.
Abstract

Nervous tissue is one of the most metabolically expensive animal tissues, thus evolutionary investments that result in enlarged brain regions should also result in improved behavioural performance. Indeed, large-scale comparative studies in vertebrates and invertebrates have successfully linked differences in brain anatomy to differences in ecology and behaviour, but their precision can be limited by the detail of the anatomical measurements, or by only measuring behaviour indirectly. Therefore, detailed case studies are valuable complements to these investigations, and have provided important evidence linking brain structure to function in a range of higher-order behavioural traits, such as foraging experience or aggressive behaviour.... (More)

Nervous tissue is one of the most metabolically expensive animal tissues, thus evolutionary investments that result in enlarged brain regions should also result in improved behavioural performance. Indeed, large-scale comparative studies in vertebrates and invertebrates have successfully linked differences in brain anatomy to differences in ecology and behaviour, but their precision can be limited by the detail of the anatomical measurements, or by only measuring behaviour indirectly. Therefore, detailed case studies are valuable complements to these investigations, and have provided important evidence linking brain structure to function in a range of higher-order behavioural traits, such as foraging experience or aggressive behaviour. Here, we show that differences in the size of both lower and higher-order sensory brain areas reflect differences in the relative importance of these senses in the foraging choices of hawk moths, as suggested by previous anatomical work in Lepidopterans. To this end we combined anatomical and behavioural quantifications of the relative importance of vision and olfaction in two closely related hawk moth species. We conclude that differences in sensory brain volume in these hawk moths can indeed be interpreted as differences in the importance of these senses for the animal's behaviour.

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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Scientific Reports
volume
6
article number
26041
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • pmid:27185464
  • wos:000375979400003
  • scopus:84969131707
ISSN
2045-2322
DOI
10.1038/srep26041
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
820018f7-d7f1-417c-911e-a38800fb9b20
date added to LUP
2016-06-16 11:04:51
date last changed
2024-04-19 05:29:10
@article{820018f7-d7f1-417c-911e-a38800fb9b20,
  abstract     = {{<p>Nervous tissue is one of the most metabolically expensive animal tissues, thus evolutionary investments that result in enlarged brain regions should also result in improved behavioural performance. Indeed, large-scale comparative studies in vertebrates and invertebrates have successfully linked differences in brain anatomy to differences in ecology and behaviour, but their precision can be limited by the detail of the anatomical measurements, or by only measuring behaviour indirectly. Therefore, detailed case studies are valuable complements to these investigations, and have provided important evidence linking brain structure to function in a range of higher-order behavioural traits, such as foraging experience or aggressive behaviour. Here, we show that differences in the size of both lower and higher-order sensory brain areas reflect differences in the relative importance of these senses in the foraging choices of hawk moths, as suggested by previous anatomical work in Lepidopterans. To this end we combined anatomical and behavioural quantifications of the relative importance of vision and olfaction in two closely related hawk moth species. We conclude that differences in sensory brain volume in these hawk moths can indeed be interpreted as differences in the importance of these senses for the animal's behaviour.</p>}},
  author       = {{Stöckl, Anna and Heinze, Stanley and Charalabidis, Alice and El Jundi, Basil and Warrant, Eric and Kelber, Almut}},
  issn         = {{2045-2322}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{05}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Scientific Reports}},
  title        = {{Differential investment in visual and olfactory brain areas reflects behavioural choices in hawk moths}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep26041}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/srep26041}},
  volume       = {{6}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}