Department of Animal Ecology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
J Evol Biol. 2011 Nov;24(11):2378-88. doi: 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2011.02365.x. Epub 2011 Aug 16.
Theory suggests that sexual traits evolve faster than ecological characters. However, characteristics of a species niche may also influence evolution of sexual traits. Hence, a pending question is whether ecological characters and sexual traits present similar tempo and mode of evolution during periods of rapid ecological divergence, such as adaptive radiation. Here, we use recently developed phylogenetic comparative methods to analyse the temporal dynamics of evolution for ecological and sexual traits in Tanganyikan cichlids. Our results indicate that whereas disparity in ecological characters was concentrated early in the radiation, disparity in sexual traits remained high throughout the radiation. Thus, closely related Tanganyikan cichlids presented higher disparity in sexual traits than ecological characters. Sexual traits were also under stronger selection than ecological characters. In sum, our results suggest that ecological characters and sexual traits present distinct evolutionary patterns, and that sexual traits can evolve faster than ecological characters, even during adaptive radiation.
理论表明，性特征的进化速度快于生态特征。然而，物种生态位的特征也可能影响性特征的进化。因此，一个悬而未决的问题是，在快速的生态分歧时期，如适应性辐射，生态特征和性特征是否表现出相似的进化速度和模式。在这里，我们使用最近开发的系统发育比较方法来分析坦干伊喀慈鲷的生态和性特征的时间动态。我们的结果表明，尽管生态特征的差异集中在辐射的早期，但性特征的差异在整个辐射过程中仍然很高。因此，密切相关的坦干伊喀慈鲷的性特征比生态特征的差异更大。性特征也比生态特征受到更强的选择。总之，我们的结果表明，生态特征和性特征呈现出不同的进化模式，即使在适应性辐射期间，性特征的进化速度也可能快于生态特征。
