My primary interest lies in the energetic aspects of mammalian brain size evolution and their significance for human evolution. Building on earlier work of our group, we integrate two approaches to explain the variation in brain size: a benefit and a cost perspective. Besides the benefits of having a large brain in terms of enhanced cognitive abilities, brain tissue is among the most metabolically costly tissues in the body and thus very sensitive to periods of starvation. Increased energetic costs can be met by either reallocating the energy from other functions, such as growth and reproduction, or by a stabilized increase in the total energy intake. As species living in seasonal habitats experience frequent periods of food scarcity, my main focus lays on investigating strategies how mammalian species cope with highly seasonal habitats. We hypothesize two mostly exclusive strategies: either species buffer seasonally lean periods by storing fat in adipose depots (“physiological buffering”) or by increasing relative brain size providing them with cognitive abilities in terms of behavioral flexibility (“cognitive buffering”).
My research centers on explaining physiological strategies how mammalian species buffer energy expenditure using a comparative approach and will contribute to our understanding whether the human combination of having a large brain and a relatively high amount of adipose tissue is unique or not.
Publication
ZORA Publication List
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Publications
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Extended parental provisioning and variation in vertebrate brain sizes. PLoS Biology, 21(2):e3002016.
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The economics of brain size evolution in vertebrates. Current Biology, 32(12):R697-R708.
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Why big brains? A comparison of models for both primate and carnivore brain size evolution. PLoS ONE, 16(12):e0261185.
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Habitat characteristics and life history explain reproductive seasonality in lagomorphs. Mammalian Biology : Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde, 101(6):739-757.
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Latitude, life history and sexual size dimorphism correlate with reproductive seasonality in rodents. Mammal Review, 51(2):256-271.
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A Farewell to the Encephalization Quotient: A New Brain Size Measure for Comparative Primate Cognition. Brain, Behavior and Evolution, 96(1):1-12.
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Reproductive seasonality in primates: patterns, concepts and unsolved questions. Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 96(1):66-88.
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When ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny: Fixed neurodevelopmental sequence of manipulative skills among primates. Science Advances, 6(30):eabb4685.
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Gross intestinal morphometry and allometry in primates. American Journal of Primatology, 81(8):e23035.
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Allomaternal care, brains and fertility in mammals: who cares matters. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 73(6):71.
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Hibernation constrains brain size evolution in mammals. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 31(10):1582-1588.
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Geographical origin, delayed implantation, and induced ovulation explain reproductive seasonality in the Carnivora. Journal of Biological Rhythms, 33(4):402-419.
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How do mammals buffer environmental seasonality? The role of brain size, body fat and allomaternal care in dealing with energy shortage. 2017, University of Zurich, Mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät.
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Getting fat or getting help? How female mammals cope with energetic constraints on reproduction. Frontiers in Zoology, 14(1):29.
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Being fat and smart: A comparative analysis of the fat-brain trade-off in mammals. Journal of Human Evolution, 100:25-34.
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Manipulation complexity in primates coevolved with brain size and terrestriality. Scientific Reports, 6:24528.
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Environmental Seasonality and Mammalian Brain Size Evolution. In: John Wiley & Sons. Encyclopedia of Life Sciences. Chichester: Wiley, online.