Latitudinal variation in light levels drives human visual system size

Biology Letters

Volumn 8, Issue 1, 2012, Pages 90-93

  Pearce, Eiluned ^a   Dunbar, Robin ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Day length; Eyeball size; Latitude; Light levels; Visual cortex size

Indexed keywords

BIRD; DAY LENGTH; EYE; INTRASPECIFIC VARIATION; LATITUDINAL GRADIENT; LIGHT AVAILABILITY; LIGHT INTENSITY; PRIMATE; SURFACE AREA; VISUAL ANALYSIS;

AVES; PRIMATES;

EID: 84856285251     PISSN: 17449561     EISSN: 1744957X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2011.0570     Document Type: Article

References (37)

1. Thomas, R. J., Székely, T., Powell, R. F. & Cuthill, I. C. 2006 Eye size, foraging methods and the timing of foraging in shorebirds. Funct. Ecol. 20, 157-165. (doi:10.1111/j.1365-2435.2006.01073.x)
2. Thomas, R. J., Székely, T., Cuthill, I. C., Harper, D. G. C., Newson, S. E., Frayling, T. D. & Wallis, P. D. 2002 Eye size in birds and the timing of song at dawn. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 269, 831-837. (doi:10.1098/rspb.2001.1941)
3. Barton, R. A. 1998 Visual specialization and brain evolution in primates. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 265, 1933-1937. (doi:10.1098/rspb.1998.0523)
4. Barton, R. A. 1996 Neocortex size and behavioural ecology in primates. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 263, 173-177. (doi:10.1098/rspb.1996.0028)
5. Barton, R. A., Purvis, A. & Harvey, P. H. 1995 Evolutionary radiation of visual and olfactory brain systems in primates, bats and insectivores. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 348, 381-392. (doi:10.1098/rstb.1995.0076)
6. Barton, R. A. 2007 Evolutionary specialization in mammalian cortical structure. J. Evol. Biol., 20, 1504-1511. (doi:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2007.01330.x)
7. Kirk, E. C. 2006 Effects of activity pattern on eye size and orbital aperture size in primates. J. Hum. Evol. 51, 159-170. (doi:10.1016/j.jhevol. 2006.02.004)
8. Kirk, E. C. 2006 Eye morphology in Cathemeral Lemurids and other mammals. Folia Primatol. 77, 27-49. (doi:10.1159/000089694)
9. Kirk, E. C. 2004 Comparative morphology of the eye in primates. Anat. Rec. 281A, 1095-1103. (doi:10.1002/ ar.a.20115)
10. Ross, C. F. & Kirk, E. C. 2007 Evolution of eye size and shape in primates. J. Hum. Evol. 52, 294-313. (doi:10. 1016/j.jhevol.2006.09.006)
11. Kiltie, R. A. 2000 Scaling of visual acuity with body size in mammals and birds. Funct. Ecol. 14, 226-234. (doi:10.1046/j.1365-2435.2000.00404.x)
12. Walls, G. L. 1942 The vertebrate eye and its adaptive radiation. Bloomfield Hills,MI: Cranbrook Institute of Science.
13. Kay, R. F. & Kirk, E. C. 2000 Osteological evidence for the evolution of activity pattern and visual acuity in primates. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 113, 235-262. (doi:10.1002/1096-8644(200010)113:2,235::AID-AJP A7.3.0.CO;2-9)
14. Stockman, A. & Sharpe, L. T. 2006 Into the twilight zone: the complexities of mesopic vision and luminous efficiency. Ophth. Physiol. Optics 26, 225-239. (doi:10. 1111/j.1475-1313.2006.00325.x)
15. Garamszegi, L. Z., Møller, A. P. & Erritzøe, J. 2002 Coevolving avian eye size and brain size in relation to prey capture and nocturnality. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 269, 961-967. (doi:10.1098/rspb.2002.1967)
16. Leff, A. 2004 A historical review of the representation of the visual field in primary visual cortex with special reference to the neural mechanism underlying macular sparing. Brain Lang. 88, 268-278. (doi:10.1016/S0093-934X(03) 00161-5)
17. Andrews,T. J.,Halpern, S.D. &Purves,D.1997Correlated size variations in human visual cortex, lateral geniculate nucleus, and optic tract. J. Neurosci. 17, 2859-2868.
18. Felleman, D. J. & Van Essen, D. C. 1991 Distributed hierarchical processing in the primate cerebral cortex. Cereb. Cortex 1, 1-47. (doi:10.1093/cercor/1.1.1-a)
19. Van Essen, D., Anderson, C. & Felleman, D. 1992 Information processing in the primate visual system: an integrated systems perspective. Science 255, 419-423. (doi:10.1126/science.1734518)
20. Dougherty, R. F., Koch, V. M., Brewer, A. A., Fischer, B., Modersitzki, J. &Wandell, B. A. 2003 Visual field representations and locations of visual areas V1/2/3 in human visual cortex. J. Vis. 3, 586-598. (doi:10.1167/3.10.1)
21. Zhong, N., Li, K., Lu, S., Chen, L., Yan, T., Jin, F. & Wu, J. 2009 Correlated size variations measured in human visual cortex V1/V2/V3 with functional MRI. Brain Inform. 5819, 36-44. (doi:10.1007/978-3-642-04954-5-14)
22. Stevens, C. F. 2001 An evolutionary scaling law for the primate visual system and its basis in cortical function. Nature 411, 193-195. (doi:10.1038/35075572)
23. von dem Hagen, E. A. H., Houston, G. C., Hoffmann, M. B., Jeffery, G. & Morland, A. B. 2005 Retinal abnormalities in human albinism translate into a reduction of grey matter in the occipital cortex. Eur. J. Neurosci. 22, 2475-2480. (doi:10.1111/j.1460-9568.2005.04433.x)
24. Williams, R., Cavada, C. & Reinoso-Suarez, F. 1993 Rapid evolution of the visual system: a cellular assay of the retina and dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus of the Spanish wildcat and the domestic cat. J. Neurosci. 13, 208-228.
25. Duncan, R. O. & Boynton, G. M. 2003 Cortical magnification within human primary visual cortex correlates with acuity thresholds. Neuron 38, 659-671. (doi:10. 1016/S0896-6273(03)00265-4)
26. Nema, H. V., Singh, V. P. & Nema, N. 2002 Anatomy of the orbit. In Textbook of ophthalmology (eds S. Agarwal, A. Agarwal, D. J. Apple & L. Buratto), pp. 756-761. New Delhi, India: Jaypee Brothers Publishers.
27. Chen, Z., Zheng, X. H., Xie, B. J., Yuan, J. J., Yu, H. H. & Li, S. H. 2006 Study of the growth of orbital volume in individuals at different ages by computed tomography. Zhonghua Yan Ke Za Zhi 42, 222-225.
28. Radinsky, L. 1967Relative brain size: a newmeasure. Science 155, 836-838. (doi:10.1126/science.155.3764.836)
29. Gorissen, P. 2008 Google Maps Latitude, Longitude Popup. See http://www.gorissen.info/Pierre/maps/googleMapLocation.php?lat=51. 618017&lon=2.48291&setLatLon=Set (accessed July 2008/July 2010).
30. Lammi, J. 1999 Photoperiod calculator. See http://www.ou.edu/research/ electron/internet/solarjav.html (lastmodified January 1999, accessed July 2008).
31. Naval Oceanography Portal 2008 Sun or Moon altitude/ azimuth table: locations worldwide. See http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/astronomical- applications/data-services/alt-az-world (accessed July 2008).
32. Seidelmann, P. K. (ed.) 1992 Explanatory supplement to the astronomical almanac. Mill Valley, CA: University Science Books.
33. Europa Technologies Google 2010 Googlemaps. See http://maps.google.co.uk/ maps?hl=en&tab=wl (accessedJuly 2010).
34. Canty & Associates LLC. 2010 Weatherbase. See www.weatherbase.com (accessed November 2010).
35. Myers, C. S. 1902 The visual acuity of the natives of Sarawak. J. Physiol. 28, 316-318.
36. Rivers, W. H. R. 1898 Vision. Reports of the Cambridge anthropological expedition to Torres straits. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
37. Beals, K. L., Smith, C. L. & Dodd, S. M. 1984 Brain size, cranial morphology, climate, and time machines. Curr. Anthropol. 25, 301-330. (doi:10.1086/203138)