Collett M, Despland E, Simpson S J, Krakauer D C
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, United Kingdom.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1998 Oct 27;95(22):13052-5. doi: 10.1073/pnas.95.22.13052.
Central to swarm formation in migratory locusts is a crowding-induced change from a "solitarious" to a "gregarious" phenotype. This change can occur within the lifetime of a single locust and accrues across generations. It represents an extreme example of phenotypic plasticity. We present computer simulations and a laboratory experiment that show how differences in resource distributions, conspicuous only at small spatial scales, can have significant effects on phase change at the population level; local spatial concentration of resource induces gregarization. Simulations also show that populations inhabiting a locally concentrated resource tend to change phase rapidly and synchronously in response to altered population densities. Our results show why information about the structure of resource at small spatial scales should become key components in monitoring and control strategies.
群居型飞蝗群体形成的核心是拥挤诱导的从“散居型”到“群居型”表型的转变。这种转变可在单个蝗虫的生命周期内发生，并代代累积。它代表了表型可塑性的一个极端例子。我们进行了计算机模拟和实验室实验，结果表明，仅在小空间尺度上明显的资源分布差异，会对种群水平的相变产生显著影响；资源的局部空间集中会导致聚集化。模拟还表明，栖息在局部集中资源环境中的种群，往往会随着种群密度的改变而迅速且同步地发生相变。我们的研究结果表明，为何小空间尺度上资源结构的信息应成为监测和控制策略的关键组成部分。
