Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA.
Science. 2009 Dec 18;326(5960):1704-7. doi: 10.1126/science.1181661. Epub 2009 Nov 26.
Ecological speciation is considered an adaptive response to selection for local adaptation. However, besides suitable ecological conditions, the process requires assortative mating to protect the nascent species from homogenization by gene flow. By means of a simple model, we demonstrate that disruptive ecological selection favors the evolution of sexual preferences for ornaments that signal local adaptation. Such preferences induce assortative mating with respect to ecological characters and enhance the strength of disruptive selection. Natural and sexual selection thus work in concert to achieve local adaptation and reproductive isolation, even in the presence of substantial gene flow. The resulting speciation process ensues without the divergence of mating preferences, avoiding problems that have plagued previous models of speciation by sexual selection.
生态物种形成被认为是对局部适应选择的一种适应性反应。然而，除了适宜的生态条件外，这个过程还需要交配的选择性，以防止新生物种因基因流而同质化。通过一个简单的模型，我们证明了具有破坏性的生态选择有利于进化出对信号局部适应的装饰物的性偏好。这种偏好会导致与生态特征相关的交配选择性，并增强破坏性选择的强度。因此，自然选择和性选择协同作用，实现了局部适应和生殖隔离，即使在存在大量基因流的情况下也是如此。由此产生的物种形成过程无需交配偏好的分歧，从而避免了以前通过性选择进行物种形成模型所存在的问题。
