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The Ontogeny of Encephalization: Tradeoffs Between Brain Growth, Somatic Growth, and Life History in Hominoids and Platyrrhines

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Abstract

This study examines variation in brain growth relative somatic growth in four hominoids and three platyrrhines to determine whether there is a trade-off during ontogeny. I predicted that somatic growth would be reduced during periods of extensive brain growth, and species with larger degrees of encephalization would reach a smaller body size at brain growth completion because more energy is directed towards the brain. I measured cranial capacity and skeletal size in over 500 skeletal specimens from wild populations. I calculated nonlinear growth curves and velocity curves to determine brain/body growth allometry during ontogeny. In addition, I calculated linear regressions to describe the brain/body allometry during the postnatal period prior to brain size reaching an asymptote. The results showed that somatic growth is not substantially reduced in species with extensive brain growth, and body size at brain growth completion was larger in species with greater degrees of encephalization. Furthermore, large body size at brain growth completion was not correlated with interbirth interval, but was significantly correlated with prolonged juvenile periods and late age at maturity when data were corrected for phylogeny. These results indicate that neither reduction in body growth nor reproductive rate are compensatory mechanisms for the energetic costs of brain growth. Other avenues for meeting energetic costs must be in effect. In addition, the results show that somatic growth in encephalized species is particularly slow during the juvenile period after brain growth at or near completion, suggesting that these growth patterns are explained by reasons other than energetic costs.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the staff at each of the museums I visited for providing access to the collections under their care, and for being helpful and supportive: Drs. Richard Thorington and David Hunt, and Linda Gordon at the National Museum of Natural History; Drs. Ken Mowbray and Ross MacPhee, and Elaine Westwig at the American Museum of Natural History; Dr. Paul Manger and Eugene Mofokeng at the medical school at the University of the Witwatersrand (also, a special thanks to Mr. Mofokeng for the personal tour of Soweto); Dr. John Phelps at the Field Museum; Dr. Emmanuel Gilissen and Wim Wendelen at the Central Africa Museum; Drs. Christopher Zollikofer and Kris Carlson at the Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zürich. I would also like to thank the granting agencies that provided the funding to complete this project: the Graduate Women in Science Eloise Gerry Grant, the Duke University Aleane Webb Grant, the Duke University Graduate School International Dissertation Research Grant, the Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid of Research, the American Museum of Natural History Collection Study Grant, and the Ruggles-Gates Fund for Biological Anthropology. A special thanks to Dr. Robert Martin for his recommendation to the Field Museum in Chicago Visiting Scholarship for Women in Science. Finally, thanks for the helpful comments of the associate editor and two anonymous reviewers.

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  1. Department of Biology, Salt Lake Community College, 248B Jordan Health Sciences, Salt Lake City, UT, 84088, USA

    Nancy L. Barrickman

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Barrickman, N.L. The Ontogeny of Encephalization: Tradeoffs Between Brain Growth, Somatic Growth, and Life History in Hominoids and Platyrrhines. Evol Biol 43, 81–95 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-015-9351-6

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