ArticleFrontiers in neuroanatomy2015
Diversity in olfactory bulb size in birds reflects allometry, ecology, and phylogeny.
Article in Frontiers in neuroanatomy, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers.
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32 citing papers in PubMed, 131 citations in OpenAlex.
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- The Olfactory Origins of Affective Processing: A Neurobiological Synthesis Through the Walla Emotion Model.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
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- On the Fila Olfactoria and the Cribriform Region of the Crocodylia.Journal of morphology · 2025Article
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- Molecular characterization of chicken DA systems reveals that the avian personality gene,Frontiers in neuroanatomy · 2025Article
- The Importance of Olfaction for Mixed Paternity in Birds.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Diversity and evolution of the vertebrate chemoreceptor gene repertoire.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Neuroanatomy of the late Cretaceous Thescelosaurus neglectus (Neornithischia: Thescelosauridae) reveals novel ecological specialisations within Dinosauria.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Phylogeny, Ecology, and Gene Families Covariation Shaped the Olfactory Subgenome of Rodents.Genome biology and evolution · 2023Article
- Review of the Effects of Enclosure Complexity and Design on the Behaviour and Physiology of Zoo Animals.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Review
- Anatomy and dietary specialization influence sensory behaviour among sympatric primates.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Olfactory receptor subgenome and expression in a highly olfactory procellariiform seabird.Genetics · 2022Article
- Distinct interhemispheric connectivity at the level of the olfactory bulb emerges during Xenopus laevis metamorphosis.Cell and tissue research · 2021Article
- A quantitative analysis of cerebellar anatomy in birds.Brain structure & function · 2021Article
- Olfactory receptor gene evolution is unusually rapid across Tetrapoda and outpaces chemosensory phenotypic change.Current zoology · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The relative size of olfactory bulbs (OBs) is correlated with olfactory capabilities across vertebrates and is widely used to assess the relative importance of olfaction to a species' ecology. In birds, variations in the relative size of OBs are correlated with some behaviors; however, the factors that have led to the high level of diversity seen in OB sizes across birds are still not well understood. In this study, we use the relative size of OBs as a neuroanatomical proxy for olfactory capabilities in 135 species of birds, representing 21 orders. We examine the scaling of OBs with brain size across avian orders, determine likely ancestral states and test for correlations between OB sizes and habitat, ecology, and behavior. The size of avian OBs varied with the size of the brain and this allometric relationship was for the most part isometric, although species did deviate from this trend. Large OBs were characteristic of more basal species and in more recently derived species the OBs were small. Living and foraging in a semi-aquatic environment was the strongest variable driving the evolution of large OBs in birds; olfaction may provide cues for navigation and foraging in this otherwise featureless environment. Some of the diversity in OB sizes was also undoubtedly due to differences in migratory behavior, foraging strategies and social structure. In summary, relative OB size in birds reflect allometry, phylogeny and behavior in ways that parallel that of other vertebrate classes. This provides comparative evidence that supports recent experimental studies into avian olfaction and suggests that olfaction is an important sensory modality for all avian species.
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