Abstract：
AbstractThe social environment is often the most dynamic and fitness-relevant environment animals experience. Here we tested whether plasticity arising from variation in social environments can promote signal-preference divergence-a key prediction of recent speciation theory but one that has proven difficult to test in natural systems. Interactions in mixed social aggregations could reduce, create, or enhance signal-preference differences. In the latter case, social plasticity could establish or increase assortative mating. We tested this by rearing two recently diverged species of Enchenopa treehoppers-sap-feeding insects that communicate with plant-borne vibrational signals-in treatments consisting of mixed-species versus own-species aggregations. Social experience with heterospecifics (in the mixed-species treatment) resulted in enhanced signal-preference species differences. For one of the two species, we tested but found no differences in the plastic response between sympatric and allopatric sites, suggesting the absence of reinforcement in the signals and preferences and their plastic response. Our results support the hypothesis that social plasticity can create or enhance signal-preference differences and that this might occur in the absence of long-term selection against hybridization on plastic responses themselves. Such social plasticity may facilitate rapid bursts of diversification.
摘要：
社会环境通常是动物体验到的最具活力和适应性的环境。在这里，我们测试了社会环境变化引起的可塑性是否可以促进信号偏好差异-这是最近的物种形成理论的关键预测，但事实证明很难在自然系统中进行测试。混合社会群体中的互动可能会减少，创建,或增强信号偏好差异。在后一种情况下，社会可塑性可以建立或增加交配。我们通过饲养两种最近不同的Enchenopa树hoppers-sap-feeding昆虫来测试这一点，这些昆虫与植物传播的振动信号进行通信，这些处理由混合物种和自身物种聚集组成。具有异特异性的社会经验（在混合物种处理中）导致信号偏好物种差异增强。对于这两个物种中的一个，我们进行了测试，但发现同胞和同种异体位点之间的塑性反应没有差异，表明信号和偏好及其塑性响应中没有强化。我们的结果支持以下假设：社会可塑性可以产生或增强信号偏好差异，并且在缺乏针对可塑性反应本身进行杂交的长期选择的情况下，这可能会发生。这种社会可塑性可能会促进多样化的迅速爆发。
