Yohe Laurel R, Brand Philipp
Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA.
Department of Geology & Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
Curr Zool. 2018 Aug;64(4):525-533. doi: 10.1093/cz/zoy048. Epub 2018 Jul 2.
All behaviors of an organism are rooted in sensory processing of signals from its environment, and natural selection shapes sensory adaptations to ensure successful detection of cues that maximize fitness. Sensory drive, or divergent selection for efficient signal transmission among heterogeneous environments, has been a useful hypothesis for describing sensory adaptations, but its current scope has primarily focused on visual and acoustic sensory modalities. Chemosensation, the most widespread sensory modality in animals that includes the senses of smell and taste, is characterized by rapid evolution and has been linked to sensory adaptations to new environments in numerous lineages. Yet, olfaction and gustation have been largely underappreciated in light of the sensory drive hypothesis. Here, we examine why chemosensory systems have been overlooked and discuss the potential of chemosensation to shed new insight on the sensory drive hypothesis and vice versa. We provide suggestions for developing a framework to better incorporate studies of chemosensory adaptation that have the potential to shape a more complete, coherent, and holistic interpretation of the sensory drive.
生物体的所有行为都源于对来自其环境信号的感官处理，自然选择塑造感官适应，以确保成功检测到能使适应性最大化的线索。感官驱动，即对异质环境中高效信号传递的趋异选择，一直是描述感官适应的一个有用假设，但其目前的范围主要集中在视觉和听觉感官模态上。化学感应是动物中最广泛的感官模态，包括嗅觉和味觉，其特点是进化迅速，并且在众多谱系中与对新环境的感官适应有关。然而，根据感官驱动假说，嗅觉和味觉在很大程度上一直未得到充分重视。在这里，我们研究了化学感应系统被忽视的原因，并讨论了化学感应为感官驱动假说带来新见解的潜力，反之亦然。我们为建立一个框架提供了建议，以便更好地纳入化学感应适应研究，这些研究有可能形成对感官驱动更完整、连贯和全面的解释。
