Department of Zoology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331.
Integr Comp Biol. 2003 Jul;43(3):367-75. doi: 10.1093/icb/43.3.367.
In an earlier characterization of the relationship between morphology, performance and fitness, I focused only on directional selection (Arnold, 1983). The aim of this article is to extend that characterization to include stabilizing and other forms of nonlinear selection. As in the earlier characterization, this more general description of the morphology-performance-fitness relationship splits empirical analysis into two parts: the study of the relationship between morpholgy and performance, and the study of the relationship between performance and fitness. From a conceptual standpoint, my goal is to specify the relationship of performance studies to the adaptive landscape. I begin by reviewing the adaptive landscape concept and its importance in evolutionary biology. A central point emerging from that review is that that key descriptors of the adaptive landscape can be estimated by measuring the impact of selection on the means, variances and covariances of phenotypic traits. Those descriptors can be estimated by making a quadratic (regression) approximation to the selection surface that describes the relationship between the phenotypic traits of individuals and their fitness. Analysis of the effects of morphology on performance follows an analogous procedure: making a quadratic approximation to the individual performance surface and then using that approximation to solve for the descriptors of the performance landscape. I conclude by discussing the evolution of performance and adaptive landscapes. One possibility with biomechanical justification is that the performance landscape evolves along performance lines of least resistance.
在更早的关于形态、表现和适应性之间关系的描述中，我只关注了定向选择（Arnold，1983）。本文的目的是将这种描述扩展到包括稳定化选择和其他形式的非线性选择。与之前的描述一样，这种更一般的形态-表现-适应性关系的描述将经验分析分为两部分：形态与表现之间关系的研究，以及表现与适应性之间关系的研究。从概念的角度来看，我的目标是具体说明表现研究与适应景观的关系。我首先回顾了适应景观的概念及其在进化生物学中的重要性。从该综述中得出的一个关键点是，可以通过测量选择对表型性状均值、方差和协方差的影响来估计适应景观的关键描述符。这些描述符可以通过对描述个体表型性状与其适应性之间关系的选择曲面进行二次（回归）逼近来估计。对形态对表现的影响的分析遵循类似的步骤：对个体表现曲面进行二次逼近，然后使用该逼近来求解表现景观的描述符。最后，我讨论了表现和适应性景观的进化。有一种具有生物力学依据的可能性是，表现景观沿着最小阻力的表现线进化。
