Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Section of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, TX 78712, USA.
Trends Ecol Evol. 2011 Apr;26(4):183-92. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2011.01.009. Epub 2011 Mar 1.
Natural populations consist of phenotypically diverse individuals that exhibit variation in their demographic parameters and intra- and inter-specific interactions. Recent experimental work indicates that such variation can have significant ecological effects. However, ecological models typically disregard this variation and focus instead on trait means and total population density. Under what situations is this simplification appropriate? Why might intraspecific variation alter ecological dynamics? In this review we synthesize recent theory and identify six general mechanisms by which trait variation changes the outcome of ecological interactions. These mechanisms include several direct effects of trait variation per se and indirect effects arising from the role of genetic variation in trait evolution.
自然种群由表型多样的个体组成，这些个体在其人口统计学参数以及种内和种间相互作用方面表现出变异。最近的实验工作表明，这种变异可以产生重大的生态影响。然而，生态模型通常忽略这种变异，而专注于特征平均值和总种群密度。在什么情况下这种简化是合适的？为什么种内变异会改变生态动态？在这篇综述中，我们综合了最近的理论，并确定了六种特质变异改变生态相互作用结果的一般机制。这些机制包括特质变异本身的几个直接效应，以及遗传变异在特质进化中所起的作用产生的间接效应。
