Dept de Biologie, Université Laval, Ste Foy, Quebec, Canada G I K 7P4.
Trends Ecol Evol. 1992 Jan;7(1):7-10. doi: 10.1016/0169-5347(92)90190-M.
Filial cannibalism (the eating of one's own offspring) occurs in a variety of taxa, but is especially prevalent in fishes with parental care. Recent research supports a central tenet of parental-investment theory; that is, parents consume their offspring when it maximizes their lifetime reproductive success. This review outlines the theoretical framework used to explain the adaptive significance of filial cannibalism, evaluates experimental studies to test some predictions of this theory and discusses how the occurrence of filial cannibalism affects other aspects of a species' reproductive ecology.
亲代食子（吃掉自己的后代）发生在许多分类群中，但在有亲代照顾的鱼类中尤为普遍。最近的研究支持了亲代投资理论的一个核心原则；也就是说，当父母的终生繁殖成功率最大化时，他们会消耗自己的后代。本综述概述了用于解释亲代食子适应性意义的理论框架，评估了一些检验该理论预测的实验研究，并讨论了亲代食子的发生如何影响物种生殖生态学的其他方面。
