Prenter John, Elwood Robert W, Montgomery W Ian
School of Biology and Biochemistry, The Queen's University of Belfast, Medical Biology Centre, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, BT9 7BL, Northern Ireland.
Evolution. 1999 Dec;53(6):1987-1994. doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1999.tb04580.x.
We investigate the association between female reproductive investment, absolute size, and sexual size dimorphism in spiders to test the predictions of the fecundity-advantage hypothesis. The relationships between absolute size and sexual size dimorphism and aspects of female reproductive output are examined in comparative analyses using phylogenetically independent contrasts. We provide support for the idea that allometry for sexual dimorphism is the result of variation in female size more so than male size. Regression analyses suggest selection for increased fecundity in females. We argue that fecundity selection provides the only general explanation for the evolution of sexual size dimorphism in spiders.
我们研究蜘蛛的雌性生殖投资、绝对体型和两性体型差异之间的关联，以检验繁殖力优势假说的预测。在使用系统发育独立对比的比较分析中，研究了绝对体型与两性体型差异以及雌性生殖产出各方面之间的关系。我们支持这样一种观点，即两性体型差异的异速生长更多是由雌性体型的变化而非雄性体型的变化导致的。回归分析表明存在对雌性繁殖力增加的选择。我们认为，繁殖力选择为蜘蛛两性体型差异的进化提供了唯一普遍的解释。
