Department of Biology and Graduate Program in Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
Am Nat. 2012 Sep;180(3):394-402. doi: 10.1086/667194. Epub 2012 Jul 19.
The relationship between traits that compete for resources is influenced by variance in the acquisition and allocation of resources. The difficulty of accurately measuring these underlying physiological processes has hampered studies of resource-based trade-offs. Here, we explore the ability of principal components analysis (PCA) to extract axes corresponding to acquisition and allocation in a bivariate trade-off by comparing these axes to estimates obtained using physiological measurements. We validate the method using simulations and then test it using empirical data for the well-characterized trade-off between flight capability and reproduction in female sand crickets, Gryllus firmus. We find a high correspondence between our physiological estimates and the estimates obtained using PCA. Our results demonstrate that PCA provides a robust and efficient method for estimating acquisition and allocation directly from the traits involved in a resource-based trade-off.
资源竞争性状之间的关系受到资源获取和分配差异的影响。由于难以准确测量这些潜在的生理过程，基于资源的权衡研究受到了阻碍。在这里，我们通过将这些轴与使用生理测量获得的估计值进行比较，探索主成分分析（PCA）在双变量权衡中提取与获取和分配相对应的轴的能力。我们使用模拟验证了该方法，然后使用雌性沙蝗 Gryllus firmus 中飞行能力和繁殖之间特征明显的权衡关系的实际数据对其进行了测试。我们发现我们的生理估计值与使用 PCA 获得的估计值之间存在高度一致性。我们的结果表明，PCA 提供了一种从基于资源的权衡中涉及的性状直接估计获取和分配的稳健而有效的方法。
