Dynamic equilibrium and adaptive evolution of snail chirality

我们进行了长期的生态调查，以了解树蜗牛属中左右两极在发育过程中的进化史和种群动态。两种不同形态的手性在种群中共存，这是不可能的，只要像蜗牛这样需要交配繁殖的蜗牛发生正向频率相关的选择。我们通过红外延时视频系统记录了手性交配和手性内交配的案例，使它们能够共存，从而实现了行为分析。

We pursued long-term ecological surveys to understand the evolutionary history and population dynamics of dimorphism for left-right polarity in development in the tree snail genus Amphidromus. Both morphs of chirality coexist within populations, which is not possible as long as positive frequency-dependent selection occurs as known for snails that need to copulate for reproduction. We achieved behavioral analyses by recording cases ofinterchiral and intrachiral copulation, which allow them to coexist, by an infrared time-lapse video system.