Mosaic evolution of brain structure in mammals

@article{Barton2000MosaicEO,
  title={Mosaic evolution of brain structure in mammals},
  author={Robert A. Barton and Paul H. Harvey},
  journal={Nature},
  year={2000},
  volume={405},
  pages={1055-1058}
}
The mammalian brain comprises a number of functionally distinct systems. It might therefore be expected that natural selection on particular behavioural capacities would have caused size changes selectively, in the systems mediating those capacities. It has been claimed, however, that developmental constraints limited such mosaic evolution, causing co-ordinated size change among individual brain components. Here we analyse comparative data to demonstrate that mosaic change has been an important… 
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298 Citations
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298 Citations

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It is concluded that functional rather than developmental constraints are the main cause of the observed patterns, and these hypotheses are not mutually exclusive but make different predictions.

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