Extreme sexual brain size dimorphism in sticklebacks: a consequence of the cognitive challenges of sex and parenting?

Selection pressures that act differently on males and females produce numerous differences between the sexes in morphology and behaviour. However, apart from the controversial report that males have slightly heavier brains than females in humans, evidence for substantial sexual dimorphism in brain s...

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Autores principales:	Alexander Kotrschal, Katja Räsänen, Bjarni K Kristjánsson, Mike Senn, Niclas Kolm
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/1a7112beb1ef4933a09aefe033fb76f3
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:1a7112beb1ef4933a09aefe033fb76f32021-11-18T07:29:50ZExtreme sexual brain size dimorphism in sticklebacks: a consequence of the cognitive challenges of sex and parenting?1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0030055https://doaj.org/article/1a7112beb1ef4933a09aefe033fb76f32012-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/22276144/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Selection pressures that act differently on males and females produce numerous differences between the sexes in morphology and behaviour. However, apart from the controversial report that males have slightly heavier brains than females in humans, evidence for substantial sexual dimorphism in brain size is scarce. This apparent sexual uniformity is surprising given that sexually distinct selection pressures are ubiquitous and that brains are one of the most plastic vertebrate organs. Here we demonstrate the highest level of sexual brain size dimorphism ever reported in any vertebrate: male three-spined stickleback of two morphs in an Icelandic lake have 23% heavier brains than females. We suggest that this dramatic sexual size dimorphism is generated by the many cognitively demanding challenges that males are faced in this species, such as an elaborate courtship display, the construction of an ornate nest and a male-only parental care system. However, we consider also alternative explanations for smaller brains in females, such as life-history trade-offs. Our demonstration of unprecedented levels of sexual dimorphism in brain size in the three-spined stickleback implies that behavioural and life-history differences among the sexes can have strong effects also on neural development and proposes new fields of research for understanding brain evolution.Alexander KotrschalKatja RäsänenBjarni K KristjánssonMike SennNiclas KolmPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 1, p e30055 (2012)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Alexander Kotrschal Katja Räsänen Bjarni K Kristjánsson Mike Senn Niclas Kolm Extreme sexual brain size dimorphism in sticklebacks: a consequence of the cognitive challenges of sex and parenting?
description	Selection pressures that act differently on males and females produce numerous differences between the sexes in morphology and behaviour. However, apart from the controversial report that males have slightly heavier brains than females in humans, evidence for substantial sexual dimorphism in brain size is scarce. This apparent sexual uniformity is surprising given that sexually distinct selection pressures are ubiquitous and that brains are one of the most plastic vertebrate organs. Here we demonstrate the highest level of sexual brain size dimorphism ever reported in any vertebrate: male three-spined stickleback of two morphs in an Icelandic lake have 23% heavier brains than females. We suggest that this dramatic sexual size dimorphism is generated by the many cognitively demanding challenges that males are faced in this species, such as an elaborate courtship display, the construction of an ornate nest and a male-only parental care system. However, we consider also alternative explanations for smaller brains in females, such as life-history trade-offs. Our demonstration of unprecedented levels of sexual dimorphism in brain size in the three-spined stickleback implies that behavioural and life-history differences among the sexes can have strong effects also on neural development and proposes new fields of research for understanding brain evolution.
format	article
author	Alexander Kotrschal Katja Räsänen Bjarni K Kristjánsson Mike Senn Niclas Kolm
author_facet	Alexander Kotrschal Katja Räsänen Bjarni K Kristjánsson Mike Senn Niclas Kolm
author_sort	Alexander Kotrschal
title	Extreme sexual brain size dimorphism in sticklebacks: a consequence of the cognitive challenges of sex and parenting?
title_short	Extreme sexual brain size dimorphism in sticklebacks: a consequence of the cognitive challenges of sex and parenting?
title_full	Extreme sexual brain size dimorphism in sticklebacks: a consequence of the cognitive challenges of sex and parenting?
title_fullStr	Extreme sexual brain size dimorphism in sticklebacks: a consequence of the cognitive challenges of sex and parenting?
title_full_unstemmed	Extreme sexual brain size dimorphism in sticklebacks: a consequence of the cognitive challenges of sex and parenting?
title_sort	extreme sexual brain size dimorphism in sticklebacks: a consequence of the cognitive challenges of sex and parenting?
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2012
url	https://doaj.org/article/1a7112beb1ef4933a09aefe033fb76f3
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Extreme sexual brain size dimorphism in sticklebacks: a consequence of the cognitive challenges of sex and parenting?

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