Weapon performance drives weapon evolution
Weapon performance drives weapon evolution
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DOI：
10.1098/rspb.2020.2898
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发表时间：
2021-01
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Z. Emberts;Wei Song Hwang;J. Wiens
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Z. Emberts;Wei Song Hwang;J. Wiens
许多性选择特征起到了武器的作用，而这些武器可以是令人难以置信的多样化。然而，物种间武器多样性背后的因素仍然知之甚少，解释这种多样性的基本假设仍未得到检验。虽然武器可以发挥多种功能，但不可否认的重要功能是它们在战斗中的作用。因此，一个关键的假设是，武器多样化是由武器改装的演变推动的，这些改装在战斗中提供了优势(例如，造成更大的损害)。在这里，我们使用17种核心昆虫的数据来检验这一战斗优势假说。我们利用了这样一个事实，即雄性与雄性在核心中的战斗往往会导致可检测到的伤害，这使得我们能够将不同的武器形态与不同物种之间的不同伤害水平联系起来。我们发现，某些武器形态造成的伤害比其他武器要大得多，有力地支持了战斗优势假说。此外，非常不同的武器形态可以造成同样严重的损害，导致武器性能图景具有多个性能峰值。这种多峰模式可能会潜在地促使不同的谱系走向不同的武器形式，进一步增加物种之间的武器多样性。总体而言，我们的结果可能有助于解释性选择武器是如何演变成今天所见的多样化形式的。
Many sexually selected traits function as weapons, and these weapons can be incredibly diverse. However, the factors underlying weapon diversity among species remain poorly understood, and a fundamental hypothesis to explain this diversity remains untested. Although weapons can serve multiple functions, an undeniably important function is their role in fights. Thus, a crucial hypothesis is that weapon diversification is driven by the evolution of weapon modifications that provide an advantage in combat (e.g. causing more damage). Here, we test this fighting-advantage hypothesis using data from 17 species of coreid bugs. We utilize the fact that male–male combat in coreids often results in detectable damage, allowing us to link different weapon morphologies to different levels of damage among species. We find that certain weapon morphologies inflict much more damage than others, strongly supporting the fighting-advantage hypothesis. Moreover, very different weapon morphologies can inflict similarly severe amounts of damage, leading to a weapon performance landscape with multiple performance peaks. This multi-peak pattern could potentially drive different lineages towards divergent weapon forms, further increasing weapon diversity among species. Overall, our results may help explain how sexually selected weapons have evolved into the diversity of forms seen today.