据最新Science报道（6月4日）称，一个英国的研究团队应用动作感应且配备有红外线的摄像机和麦克风来窥视在野外的一群蟋蟀，并‘昼夜不停’地监控着这些昆虫的一举一动。

这些观察结果包括了可提高某蟋蟀繁殖机会的有关因素的新资讯，并揭示了在实验室研究中所缺失的组成目前我们有关该类昆虫性生活知识中的大部分的复杂性。 Rolando Rodriguez-Mu oz及其同僚对某一整个蟋蟀群体的生活史、行为和繁殖上的成功进行了监控。他们还采集了基因数据以决定哪些成虫产下了不同的后代。 除了揭示了雄性和雌性蟋蟀经常交配而且与多个性伴交配之外，该项研究还包括了数项有趣的发现。

例如，尽管总体来说雄性和雌性有着相同数目的后代，但其在雄性后代总数上的差异要大得多，而且它们中的大多数没有活到可繁殖阶段的后代。 这一理念曾经在理论中被预测，但很少在实地对其进行测试。

与人们期望的相反，那些使雄性作为更有吸引力性伴的特征并不总是能够使它们更有可能繁育后代。 令研究人员感到惊奇的是，他们发现，作为首要的蟋蟀（或者说至少战胜了大多数的进攻性遭遇者的蟋蟀）并非实际上反映了该雄性蟋蟀在生殖上的成功。 然而，杂交确实可增强雄雌两性蟋蟀在生殖上的成功。 一则相关的Perspective详细讨论了这一研究。

原文出处：

Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1188102

Natural and Sexual Selection in a Wild Insect Population
R. Rodríguez-Mu?oz,1 A. Bretman,1,2 J. Slate,3 C. A. Walling,4 T. Tregenza1,*

The understanding of natural and sexual selection requires both field and laboratory studies to exploit the advantages and avoid the disadvantages of each approach. However, studies have tended to be polarized among the types of organisms studied, with vertebrates studied in the field and invertebrates in the lab. We used video monitoring combined with DNA profiling of all of the members of a wild population of field crickets across two generations to capture the factors predicting the reproductive success of males and females. The factors that predict a male’s success in gaining mates differ from those that predict how many offspring he has. We confirm the fundamental prediction that males vary more in their reproductive success than females, and we find that females as well as males leave more offspring when they mate with more partners.

1 Centre for Ecology and Conservation, School of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn TR10 EZ, UK.
2 School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK.
3 Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK.
4 Institute of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, Ashworth Laboratories, King's Buildings, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK.