Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33784860›Full record

ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2021

Testing hypotheses of marsupial brain size variation using phylogenetic multiple imputations and a Bayesian comparative framework.

Orlin S Todorov, Simone P Blomberg, Anjali Goswami, Karen Sears, Patrik Drhlík, James Peters, Vera Weisbecker

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
6.7field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed, 18 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Clade-specific forebrain cytoarchitectures of the extinct Tasmanian tiger.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023
    Article
  3. From fossils to mind.Communications biology · 2023
    Review
  4. The evolution of marsupial social organization.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Intraspecific variation in animal mating signals: a test of Mayr's conjecture.Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.

Orlin S TodorovSchool of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia.
Simone P BlombergSchool of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia.
Anjali GoswamiGenetics, Evolution, and Environment Department, University College London, UK.
Karen SearsDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, College of Life Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Patrik DrhlíkFaculty of Mechatronics, Informatics and Interdisciplinary Studies, Technical University of Liberec, Czechia.
James PetersDepartment of Animal Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, USA.
Vera WeisbeckerSchool of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia.
The University of Queensland · AUNatural History Museum · GBTechnical University of Liberec · CZUniversity of California, Los Angeles · USUniversity of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Considerable controversy exists about which hypotheses and variables best explain mammalian brain size variation. We use a new, high-coverage dataset of marsupial brain and body sizes, and the first phylogenetically imputed full datasets of 16 predictor variables, to model the prevalent hypotheses explaining brain size evolution using phylogenetically corrected Bayesian generalized linear mixed-effects modelling. Despite this comprehensive analysis, litter size emerges as the only significant predictor. Marsupials differ from the more frequently studied placentals in displaying a much lower diversity of reproductive traits, which are known to interact extensively with many behavioural and ecological predictors of brain size. Our results therefore suggest that studies of relative brain size evolution in placental mammals may require targeted co-analysis or adjustment of reproductive parameters like litter size, weaning age or gestation length. This supports suggestions that significant associations between behavioural or ecological variables with relative brain size may be due to a confounding influence of the extensive reproductive diversity of placental mammals.

Indexed as

MarsupialiaAnimalsBayes TheoremBiological EvolutionFemaleOrgan SizePhylogenyPregnancyBayesianbraincomparativeimputationsmarsupialsphylogenetic

Identifiers

PMID33784860
PMCPMC8059968
OpenAlexW3145702769

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.