Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 06511; Ecology & Evolution Department, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 60615.
Evolution. 2014 Jun;68(6):1661-70. doi: 10.1111/evo.12381. Epub 2014 Mar 20.
Fixed, genetically determined, mate preferences for species whose adult phenotype varies with rearing environment may be maladaptive, as the phenotype that is most fit in the parental environment may be absent in the offspring environment. Mate preference in species with polyphenisms (environmentally dependent alternative phenotypes) should therefore either not focus on polyphenic traits, be polyphenic themselves, or learned each generation. Here, we test these alternative hypotheses by first describing a female-limited seasonal polyphenism in a sexually dimorphic trait in the butterfly Bicyclus anynana, dorsal hindwing spot number (DHSN), and then testing whether male and female mate preferences for this trait exist, and whether they are seasonally polyphenic, or learned. Neither naïve males nor naïve females in either seasonal form exhibited mating preferences for DHSN. However, males, but not females, noticed DHSN variation and learned mate preferences for DHSN. These results suggest that individuals may accommodate environmentally dependent variation in morphological traits via learned mate preferences in each generation, and that learned mate preference plasticity can be sexually dimorphic.
对于那些成年表型随环境而变化的物种，固定的、遗传决定的配偶偏好可能是适应不良的，因为在亲代环境中最适应的表型可能在后代环境中不存在。因此，具有多态性（环境依赖的替代表型）的物种的配偶偏好要么不专注于多态性特征，要么自身具有多态性，要么每一代都被学习。在这里，我们通过首先描述蝴蝶 Bicyclus anynana 中一种雌性限性的季节性多态性来检验这些替代假设，这种多态性表现在性二态性特征中，即背部后翅斑点数量（DHSN），然后测试这种特征是否存在雄性和雌性的配偶偏好，以及它们是否具有季节性多态性或被学习。无论是季节性形式的雄性还是雌性，它们在 DHSN 上都没有表现出交配偏好。然而，雄性而不是雌性注意到 DHSN 的变化，并学会了 DHSN 的配偶偏好。这些结果表明，个体可能通过每一代的学习配偶偏好来适应形态特征的环境依赖性变化，并且学习配偶偏好的可塑性可能具有性二态性。
