ArticleEvolution; international journal of organic evolution2020
Long life evolves in large-brained bird lineages.
Article in Evolution; international journal of organic evolution, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
What it found
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed.
- Wild Bird Reproduction: Neuroendocrinology, Conservation Biology, and Environmental Threats.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- An Observation of Coordinated Collaboration in Wild Brown Skua (Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Parental investment and body temperature explain encephalization in vertebrates.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Slowly but Surely: Larger Brains Improve Immature Survival in Primates.American journal of primatology · 2025Article
- Adaptations to marine environments and the evolution of slow-paced life histories in endotherms.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Maximum lifespan and brain size in mammals are associated with gene family size expansion related to immune system functions.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Size differences among canaries, goldfinches and allies may explain correlated evolution of song and colour.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Life-History and Ecological Correlates of Egg and Clutch Mass Variation in Sympatric Bird Species at High Altitude.Biology · 2023Article
- Extended parental provisioning and variation in vertebrate brain sizes.PLoS biology · 2023Article
- Evolutionary and genomic perspectives of brain aging and neurodegenerative diseases.Progress in brain research · 2023Article
- Using relative brain size as predictor variable: Serious pitfalls and solutions.Ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- Large and expensive brain comes with a short lifespan: The relationship between brain size and longevity among fish taxa.Journal of fish biology · 2022Article
- Coevolution of relative brain size and life expectancy in parrots.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Waterbird solves the string-pull test.Royal Society open science · 2021Article
- Large brain size is associated with low extra-pair paternity across bird species.Ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Is degree of sociality associated with reproductive senescence? A comparative analysis across birds and mammals.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Alternative Animal Models of Aging Research.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2021Review
- Digest: A synergistic approach explains the evolutionary connection between brain size and longevityEvolution; international journal of organic evolution · 2020Article
- Play behaviour, not tool using, relates to brain mass in a sample of birds.Scientific reports · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The brain is an energetically costly organ that consumes a disproportionate amount of resources. Species with larger brains relative to their body size have slower life histories, with reduced output per reproductive event and delayed development times that can be offset by increasing behavioral flexibility. The "cognitive buffer" hypothesis maintains that large brain size decreases extrinsic mortality due to greater behavioral flexibility, leading to a longer lifespan. Alternatively, slow life histories, and long lifespan can be a pre-adaptation for the evolution of larger brains. Here, we use phylogenetic path analysis to contrast different evolutionary scenarios and disentangle direct and indirect relationships between brain size, body size, life history, and longevity across 339 altricial and precocial bird species. Our results support both a direct causal link between brain size and lifespan, and an indirect effect via other life history traits. These results indicate that large brain size engenders longer life, as proposed by the "cognitive buffer" hypothesis.
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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.