Introducing the brain: insect plasticity (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, February 09, 2021, 23:11 (1171 days ago) @ David Turell

As butterfliers enter new environments their brains change:

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-brains-species.html

"Scientists studying forest dwelling butterflies in Central and South America have discovered that changes in the way animals perceive and process information from their environment can support the emergence of new species.

"The international team, led by Dr. Stephen Montgomery...compared the brain morphology of two distinct but closely related lineages of butterfly that occur in distinct tropical forest habitats. The first, including the species Heliconius cydno, lives in deeper forests, where the canopy light levels are low. Its sister lineage, including a species called Heliconius melpomene, lives around the forest edges, where light is much more abundant. Despite their ecological differences, these species are very closely related and can still produce viable offspring, suggesting they sit right at the brink of being new species.

"The team found substantial differences in the brains of forest edge and deep forest species, with the latter investing more in parts of the brain that process visual information.

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"Dr. Stephen Montgomery, Senior Research Fellow at Bristol, said: "These butterflies aren't separated by huge distances, nor are they distantly related, but their brain structure is finely tuned to the specific habitats they occupy, and we think this process helps keep the two lineages apart, allowing them to become distinct species."

"Similar differences were seen when the team examined the how highly different genes were expressed in the brain.

"Matteo Rossi, a Ph.D. student at LMU Munich, explained: "Based on the pattern of gene expression in brain tissue we can accurately cluster individuals into the correct species. The expression of genes driving these differences evolve fast, and seem to be located in regions of the genome that are most distinct between the two species."

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"'The forest is a tapestry of different conditions, with different structures, resources and cues. This work illustrates how closely species evolve to occupy these different micro-habitats, supporting high numbers of species in seemingly small areas" said Dr. Owen McMillan, a co-author from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama"

Comment: The authors are trying to sell a method of speciation, but what I see is strong evidence of insect brain plasticity, mimicking ours, a strong indication brain plasticity is a property throughout species.