School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom; email:
Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Annu Rev Entomol. 2024 Jan 25;69:41-57. doi: 10.1146/annurev-ento-022823-020258. Epub 2023 Aug 10.
Natural selection is notoriously dynamic in nature, and so, too, is sexual selection. The interactions between phytophagous insects and their host plants have provided valuable insights into the many ways in which ecological factors can influence sexual selection. In this review, we highlight recent discoveries and provide guidance for future work in this area. Importantly, host plants can affect both the agents of sexual selection (e.g., mate choice and male-male competition) and the traits under selection (e.g., ornaments and weapons). Furthermore, in our rapidly changing world, insects now routinely encounter new potential host plants. The process of adaptation to a new host may be hindered or accelerated by sexual selection, and the unexplored evolutionary trajectories that emerge from these dynamics are relevant to pest management and insect conservation strategies. Examining the effects of host plants on sexual selection has the potential to advance our fundamental understanding of sexual conflict, host range evolution, and speciation, with relevance across taxa.
自然选择在本质上是非常动态的，性选择也是如此。植食性昆虫与其宿主植物之间的相互作用为我们提供了有价值的见解，了解生态因素如何影响性选择。在这篇综述中，我们强调了最近的发现，并为该领域的未来工作提供了指导。重要的是，宿主植物可以影响性选择的媒介（例如，配偶选择和雄性间竞争）和受选择的特征（例如，装饰物和武器）。此外，在我们这个快速变化的世界中，昆虫现在经常遇到新的潜在宿主植物。对新宿主的适应过程可能会受到性选择的阻碍或加速，而这些动态产生的未被探索的进化轨迹与害虫管理和昆虫保护策略有关。研究宿主植物对性选择的影响有可能促进我们对性冲突、宿主范围进化和物种形成的基本理解，这在分类学上具有相关性。
