Centre of Excellence in Biological Interactions, Division of Ecology, Evolution and Genetics, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2013 Jan 21;368(1613):20120053. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2012.0053. Print 2013 Mar 5.
Polyandry, by elevating sexual conflict and selecting for reduced male care relative to monandry, may exacerbate the cost of sex and thereby seriously impact population fitness. On the other hand, polyandry has a number of possible population-level benefits over monandry, such as increased sexual selection leading to faster adaptation and a reduced mutation load. Here, we review existing information on how female fitness evolves under polyandry and how this influences population dynamics. In balance, it is far from clear whether polyandry has a net positive or negative effect on female fitness, but we also stress that its effects on individuals may not have visible demographic consequences. In populations that produce many more offspring than can possibly survive and breed, offspring gained or lost as a result of polyandry may not affect population size. Such ecological 'masking' of changes in population fitness could hide a response that only manifests under adverse environmental conditions (e.g. anthropogenic change). Surprisingly few studies have attempted to link mating system variation to population dynamics, and in general we urge researchers to consider the ecological consequences of evolutionary processes.
一妻多夫制通过提高性冲突，并相对于一妻一夫制选择减少男性照顾，可能会加剧性的代价，从而严重影响种群适应性。另一方面，一妻多夫制相对于一妻一夫制在许多方面具有种群优势，例如增加性选择，从而促进更快的适应和降低突变负荷。在这里，我们回顾了现有关于雌性适应性如何在一妻多夫制下进化以及这如何影响种群动态的信息。总的来说，一妻多夫制对雌性适应性的净影响是积极的还是消极的，远未可知，但我们也强调，它对个体的影响可能没有明显的人口统计学后果。在那些产生的后代数量远远超过可能存活和繁殖的数量的种群中，由于一妻多夫制而获得或失去的后代可能不会影响种群规模。这种对种群适应性变化的生态“掩盖”可能会隐藏只有在不利的环境条件下才会表现出来的反应（例如人为变化）。令人惊讶的是，很少有研究试图将交配制度的变化与种群动态联系起来，总的来说，我们敦促研究人员考虑进化过程的生态后果。
