Intragroup Conflicts and the Evolution of Sterile Castes in Termites
Intragroup Conflicts and the Evolution of Sterile Castes in Termites
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白蚁的群内冲突和不育种姓的进化
DOI：
10.1086/285631
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发表时间：
1994
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Y. Roisin
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Y. Roisin
提出了一种假说，解释了白蚁祖先中辅助表型的出现，解释了组成殖民地的一部分个体有规律地表达这种表型，以及随后不育种姓的发展和多样化（士兵和工人）这一假说的基础是，非社会性祖先的行为和生理特征逐渐增强。父母-子女群体，父母承担生育，而年长的子女帮助抚养年幼的兄弟姐妹。我证明，冲突（特别是，竞争之间的帮手，以达到alate阶段）预计在这样的群体。这种冲突的白蚁祖先的性格证实了他们存在于所有主要群体的现存的较低的白蚁，在这些群体中，他们仍然可以发挥重要的作用，种姓决定我建议，这种冲突产生个人的能力降低翅发展，这将优先投资于兄弟姐妹，而不是在自己的再生。这样一来，选择就可能有利于提高这种辅助型在执行社会任务时的效率，并对两种表型（辅助型和性若虫）之间的转换机制进行微调，以尽可能接近汉密尔顿法则。这个过程可能导致非分散表型的正则表达式（即，永久性帮手种姓的出现），随后帮手出现了广泛的多样化，就像现在在高等白蚁中观察到的那样。
A hypothesis is proposed to account for the onset of a helper phenotype in the ancestors of termites, for the regular expression of this phenotype by a fraction of the individuals composing the colony, and for the subsequent development and diversification of sterile castes (soldiers and workers) This hypothesis rests on the gradual enhancement of behavioral and physiological traits preexisting in noneusocial ancestors Ancestors of termites probably lived in parent-offspring groups, in which parents assumed reproduction while older offspring helped to raise younger siblings. I demonstrate that conflicts (in particular, competition among helpers to reach the alate stage) are expected within such groups. The ancestral character of such conflicts in termites is substantiated by empirical evidence for their existence in all major groups of extant lower termites, in which they can still play an important role in caste determination I suggest that such conflicts produced individuals with lessened abilities for alate development, which would invest preferentially in siblings rather than in their own regeneration. Selection could then favor any increase in the efficiency of this helper phenotype at carrying out social tasks and a fine-tuning of the switch mechanism between the two phenotypes-the helper and the sexual nymph-as to fit Hamilton's rule as closely as possible. This process could have led to the regular expression of nondispersive phenotypes (i.e., the onset of permanent helper castes), followed by a wide diversification of the helpers, as observed nowadays in the higher termites.