Rose Christopher S
Department of Biology, MSC 7801, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA 22807, USA.
Trends Ecol Evol. 2005 Mar;20(3):129-35. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2005.01.005.
Amphibian metamorphosis has long intrigued ecologists and developmental biologists, yet the two research programs have progressed separately and toward different goals. Plasticity in metamorphic timing has profound effects on fitness, which has prompted ecologists to develop and test models for predicting how environmental factors affect the size and age of metamorphosis. These models rely upon untested assumptions about the mechanisms for regulating growth and development. Whereas developmental biologists explicitly investigate these mechanisms at the hormonal and genetic levels, they largely ignore the role of environmental input. Recent developments in our understanding of the molecular biology of frog metamorphosis are revealing how these two research programs could be integrated. Here, I review these developments to test ecologists' assumptions about frog metamorphosis, and to present strategies for both research fields to investigate the mechanistic basis of metamorphic plasticity.
两栖动物的变态发育长期以来一直吸引着生态学家和发育生物学家，然而这两个研究领域各自独立发展，目标也不尽相同。变态发育时间的可塑性对适应性有着深远影响，这促使生态学家开发并测试模型，以预测环境因素如何影响变态发育的大小和年龄。这些模型依赖于关于调节生长和发育机制的未经检验的假设。而发育生物学家在激素和基因层面明确研究这些机制时，却很大程度上忽略了环境输入的作用。我们对青蛙变态发育分子生物学理解的最新进展正在揭示这两个研究领域如何能够整合。在此，我回顾这些进展，以检验生态学家关于青蛙变态发育的假设，并为两个研究领域提出调查变态可塑性机制基础的策略。
