Department of Biology, Lund University, SE-22362, Lund, Sweden.
Trends Ecol Evol. 2012 Sep;27(9):511-9. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2012.05.007. Epub 2012 Jun 15.
Learning is widespread in nature, occurring in most animal taxa and in several different ecological contexts and, thus, might play a key role in evolutionary processes. Here, we review the accumulating empirical evidence for the involvement of learning in mate choice and the consequences for sexual selection and reproductive isolation. We distinguish two broad categories: learned mate preferences and learned traits under mate selection (such as bird song). We point out that the context of learning, namely how and when learning takes place, often makes a crucial difference to the predicted evolutionary outcome. Factors causing biases in learning and when one should expect the evolution of learning itself are also explored.
学习在自然界中广泛存在，发生在大多数动物类群和几种不同的生态环境中，因此可能在进化过程中发挥关键作用。在这里，我们回顾了有关学习在配偶选择中作用的累积经验证据，以及对性选择和生殖隔离的影响。我们区分了两种广泛的类别：学习的配偶偏好和配偶选择下的学习特征（例如鸟类的歌声）。我们指出，学习的背景，即学习发生的方式和时间，往往对预测的进化结果起着至关重要的作用。我们还探讨了导致学习偏差的因素，以及何时应该期待学习本身的进化。
