Am Nat. 2020 Feb;195(2):380-392. doi: 10.1086/706812. Epub 2019 Dec 20.
Biological diversity abounds in potential study topics. Studies of model systems have their advantages, but reliance on a few well-understood cases may create false impressions of what biological phenomena are the norm. Here I focus on facultative sex, which is often hailed as offering the best of both worlds, in that rare sex offers benefits almost equal to obligate sex and avoids paying most of the demographic costs. How well do we understand when and why this form of sexual reproduction is expected to prevail? I show several gaps in the theoretical literature and, by contrasting asynchronous with synchronous sex, highlight the need to link sex theories to the theoretical underpinnings of bet hedging, on the one hand, and to mate limitation considerations, on the other. Condition-dependent sex and links between sex with dispersal or dormancy appear understudied. While simplifications are justifiable as a simple assumption structure enhances analytical tractability, much remains to be done to incorporate key features of real sex to the main theoretical edifice.
生物多样性蕴含着丰富的潜在研究课题。对模式系统的研究具有其优势，但依赖少数几个了解透彻的案例可能会对生物现象的常态产生错误的印象。在这里，我专注于兼性性别，它通常被誉为两全其美，因为罕见的性别提供的好处几乎与强制性性别相当，同时避免了支付大多数人口成本。我们对这种形式的有性繁殖何时以及为何会占优势有多少了解？我展示了理论文献中的几个空白，并通过对比异步和同步性别，突出了将性理论与赌注对冲的理论基础以及配偶限制因素联系起来的必要性。条件依赖性性别以及性与扩散或休眠之间的联系似乎研究不足。虽然简化是合理的，因为简单的假设结构增强了分析的可处理性，但仍有许多工作要做，以将真实性别中的关键特征纳入主要理论体系。
