Rueffler Claus, Van Dooren Tom J M, Metz Johan A J
Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Kaiserstraat 63, 2311 GP Leiden, The Netherlands.
Am Nat. 2007 Feb;169(2):E34-52. doi: 10.1086/510635. Epub 2006 Dec 22.
We analyze the consequences of diet choice behavior for the evolutionary dynamics of foraging traits by means of a mathematical model. The model is characterized by the following features. Consumers feed on two different substitutable resources that are distributed in a fine-grained manner. On encounter with a resource item, consumers decide whether to attack it so as to maximize their energy intake. Simultaneously, evolutionary change occurs in morphological traits involved in the foraging process. The assumption here is that evolution is constrained by a trade-off in the consumer's ability to forage on the alternative resources. The model predicts that flexible diet choice behavior can guide the direction of evolutionary change and mediate coexistence of different consumer types. Such polymorphisms can evolve from a monomorphic population at evolutionary branching points and also at points where a small genetic change in a trait can provoke a sharp instantaneous and nongenetic change in choice behavior. In the case of weak trade-offs, the evolutionary dynamics of a dimorphic consumer population can lead to alternative evolutionarily stable communities. The robustness of these predictions is checked with individual-based simulations and by relaxing the assumption of optimally foraging consumers.
我们通过一个数学模型来分析饮食选择行为对觅食性状进化动态的影响。该模型具有以下特点。消费者以两种不同的可替代资源为食，这些资源以细粒度的方式分布。当遇到一个资源项目时，消费者决定是否攻击它以使其能量摄入最大化。同时，参与觅食过程的形态性状会发生进化变化。这里的假设是，进化受到消费者在替代资源上觅食能力权衡的限制。该模型预测，灵活的饮食选择行为可以引导进化变化的方向，并介导不同消费者类型的共存。这种多态性可以在进化分支点以及性状上的微小遗传变化可引发选择行为急剧瞬时且非遗传变化的点上，从单态种群中进化而来。在权衡较弱的情况下，双态消费者群体的进化动态可导致交替的进化稳定群落。通过基于个体的模拟以及放宽最优觅食消费者的假设来检验这些预测的稳健性。
