Pfennig D W, Collins J P
Section of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853.
Nature. 1993 Apr 29;362(6423):836-8. doi: 10.1038/362836a0.
Inclusive fitness theory predicts that organisms can often increase their fitness by helping relatives. Indeed, many animals modify their behaviour towards kin in a fashion consistent with theory. Morphogenesis may also be sensitive to kinship environment, especially in species that facultatively produce distinct morphs that differ in their ability to harm relatives, such as those that produce alternative cannibalistic and non-cannibalistic phenotypes. We tested this hypothesis by examining whether consanguinity affected the probability that structurally distinctive cannibal morphs would develop in larval Arizona tiger salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum nebulosum). We report here that when tiger salamander larvae are reared in mixed-brood groups they are significantly more likely to develop the cannibal morphology and at an earlier age than siblings reared in pure-sibship groups. In general, morphogenesis may be responsive to kinship in any species that facultatively develops structures that can be used against conspecifics as weaponry.
广义适合度理论预测，生物通常可以通过帮助亲属来提高自身的适合度。事实上，许多动物对亲属的行为改变方式与该理论相符。形态发生可能也对亲属关系环境敏感，尤其是在那些能选择性地产生不同形态、对亲属造成伤害能力各异的物种中，比如那些能产生自相残杀和非自相残杀两种不同表型的物种。我们通过研究血亲关系是否会影响亚利桑那虎螈（Ambystoma tigrinum nebulosum）幼体中结构独特的自相残杀形态的发育概率，来验证这一假设。我们在此报告，当虎螈幼体在混合群体中饲养时，相较于在纯同胞群体中饲养的同胞，它们显著更有可能发育出自相残杀形态，且发育时间更早。一般来说，在任何能够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，形态发生可能对亲属关系都有反应。
