Pfennig David W, Frankino W Anthony
Department of Biology, Coker Hall CB #3280, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27599-3280.
Biology Department and Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 47405-6801.
Evolution. 1997 Dec;51(6):1993-1999. doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1997.tb05120.x.
Inclusive fitness theory predicts that organisms can increase their fitness by helping or not harming relatives, and many animals modify their behavior toward kin in a manner consistent with this prediction. Morphogenesis also may be sensitive to kinship environment, particularly in species where certain individuals facultatively develop structures that can be used against conspecifics as weaponry. We tested this hypothesis by examining whether and how consanguinity affected the probability that a structurally distinctive carnivore phenotype, which is opportunistically cannibalistic, would be produced in plains spadefoot toad tadpoles (Spea bombifrons) and southern spadefoot toad tadpoles (S. multiplicata). For tadpoles of S. multiplicata, individuals were significantly more likely to express the carnivore phenotype in mixed sibship groups than in pure sibship groups. For tadpoles of S. bombifrons, individuals were significantly more likely to express the carnivore phenotype when reared alone than in pure sibship groups. Both outcomes were independent of food availability or sibship specific differences in size or growth rate, and waterborne chemical signals from nonkin were sufficient to trigger expression of the carnivore phenotype. Our results suggest that morphogenesis may be responsive to kinship environment in any species or population that occurs as multiple, environmentally induced forms (polyphenism) that differ in their ability to help or to harm others.
广义适合度理论预测，生物可以通过帮助亲属或不伤害亲属来提高自身适合度，许多动物会以与这一预测相符的方式改变其对亲属的行为。形态发生也可能对亲属关系环境敏感，尤其是在某些个体可选择性地发育出可作为武器对抗同种个体的结构的物种中。我们通过研究血缘关系是否以及如何影响平原锄足蟾蝌蚪（Spea bombifrons）和南方锄足蟾蝌蚪（S. multiplicata）产生一种具有结构独特的食肉动物表型（该表型具有机会性同类相食行为）的概率，来验证这一假设。对于南方锄足蟾蝌蚪而言，与纯同胞组相比，在混合同胞组中的个体显著更有可能表现出食肉动物表型。对于平原锄足蟾蝌蚪，与纯同胞组相比，单独饲养时个体显著更有可能表现出食肉动物表型。这两种结果均与食物可获得性或同胞在大小或生长速率上的特定差异无关，并且来自非亲属的水体化学信号足以触发食肉动物表型的表达。我们的结果表明，在以多种因环境诱导而形成的、在帮助或伤害其他个体的能力上存在差异的形式（多型现象）出现的任何物种或种群中，形态发生可能对亲属关系环境有响应。
