Burley Nancy Tyler, Johnson Kristine
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine 92697-2525, USA.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2002 Mar 29;357(1419):241-50. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2001.0923.
A stage model traces key behavioural tactics and life-history traits that are involved in the transition from promiscuity with no parental care, the mating system that typifies reptiles, to that typical of most birds, social monogamy with biparental care. In stage I, females assumed increasing parental investment in precocial young, female choice of mates increased, female-biased mating dispersal evolved and population sex ratios became male biased. In stage II, consortships between mating partners allowed males to attract rare social mates, provided a mechanism for paternity assessment and increased female ability to assess mate quality. In stage III, relative female scarcity enabled females to demand parental investment contributions from males having some paternity certainty. This innovation was facilitated by the nature of avian parental care; i.e. most care-giving activities can be adopted in small units. Moreover, the initial cost of care giving to males was small compared with its benefit to females. Males, however, tended to decline to assume non-partitionable, risky, or relatively costly parental activities. In stage IV, altriciality coevolved with increasing biparental care, resulting in social monogamy. Approaches for testing behavioural hypotheses are suggested.
一个阶段模型描绘了从无亲代抚育的滥交（这是爬行动物典型的交配系统）到大多数鸟类典型的社会一夫一妻制及双亲抚育过程中所涉及的关键行为策略和生活史特征。在第一阶段，雌性对早成雏的亲代投入增加，雌性对配偶的选择增加，出现了偏向雌性的交配扩散，种群性别比变得偏向雄性。在第二阶段，交配伙伴之间的配偶关系使雄性能够吸引稀有的社会配偶，提供了一种父权评估机制，并提高了雌性评估配偶质量的能力。在第三阶段，相对雌性稀缺使雌性能够要求有一定父权确定性的雄性提供亲代投资。鸟类亲代抚育的性质促进了这一创新；即大多数抚育活动可以以小单元进行。此外，与对雌性的益处相比，雄性抚育的初始成本较小。然而，雄性往往拒绝承担不可分割、有风险或成本相对较高的亲代活动。在第四阶段，晚成性与双亲抚育的增加共同进化，导致了社会一夫一妻制。文中还提出了检验行为假设的方法。
