ArticleEcology letters2015
Brain size affects female but not male survival under predation threat.
Article in Ecology letters, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
45 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 124 citations in OpenAlex.
- How does cognition determine an individual's fitness? A systematic review of the links between cognition, behaviour and fitness in non-human animals.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Pooled it
- The repeatability of cognitive performance: a meta-analysis.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2018Pooled it
- Neuroactive Pollution Disrupts Cognition in Fish by Causing Sex-Specific Effects on Spatial Learning.Environmental science & technology · 2026Article
- Spatiotemporal Patterns of Gene Expression Associated With Mating Stimuli in the Brain of Female Guppies.Genes, brain, and behavior · 2025Article
- Collective decision-making under predator threat is faster in guppy shoals selected for larger telencephalon size.Animal cognition · 2025Article
- Why did the human brain size evolve? A way forward.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Artificial selection for adult predation survival affects life history and morphology in guppies (Science advances · 2025Article
- How hibernation in frogs drives brain and reproductive evolution in opposite directions.eLife · 2023Article
- Evolution of schooling drives changes in neuroanatomy and motion characteristics across predation contexts in guppies.Nature communications · 2023Article
- The endangered brain: actively preservingRoyal Society open science · 2023Review
- Counter-gradient variation and the expensive tissue hypothesis explain parallel brain size reductions at high elevation in cricetid and murid rodents.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Divergence in brain size and brain region volumes across wild guppy populations.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Cognition contra camouflage: How the brain mediates predator-driven crypsis evolution.Science advances · 2022Article
- Bold and bright: shy and supple? The effect of habitat type on personality-cognition covariance in the Aegean wall lizard (Podarcis erhardii).Animal cognition · 2022Article
- Predation impacts brain allometry in female guppies (Evolutionary ecology · 2022Article
- Rapid mosaic brain evolution under artificial selection for relative telencephalon size in the guppy (Science advances · 2021Article
- Understanding fish cognition: a review and appraisal of current practices.Animal cognition · 2021Review
- Brain size variation along altitudinal gradients in the Asiatic Toad (Ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Brain size does not predict learning strategies in a serial reversal learning test.The Journal of experimental biology · 2020Article
- Smaller brained cliff swallows are more likely to die during harsh weather.Biology letters · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
There is remarkable diversity in brain size among vertebrates, but surprisingly little is known about how ecological species interactions impact the evolution of brain size. Using guppies, artificially selected for large and small brains, we determined how brain size affects survival under predation threat in a naturalistic environment. We cohoused mixed groups of small- and large-brained individuals in six semi-natural streams with their natural predator, the pike cichlid, and monitored survival in weekly censuses over 5 months. We found that large-brained females had 13.5% higher survival compared to small-brained females, whereas the brain size had no discernible effect on male survival. We suggest that large-brained females have a cognitive advantage that allows them to better evade predation, whereas large-brained males are more colourful, which may counteract any potential benefits of brain size. Our study provides the first experimental evidence that trophic interactions can affect the evolution of brain size.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.