Adaptation to a novel family environment involves both apparent and cryptic phenotypic changes

Cryptic evolution occurs when evolutionary change is masked by concurrent environmental change. In most cases, evolutionary changes in the phenotype are masked by changing abiotic factors. However, evolutionary change in one trait might also be masked by evolutionary change in another trait, a phenomenon referred to as evolutionary environmental deterioration. Nevertheless, detecting this second type of cryptic evolution is challenging and there are few compelling examples. Here, we describe a likely case of evolutionary environmental deterioration occurring in experimental burying beetle (Nicrophorus vespilloides) populations that are adapting to a novel social environment that lacks post-hatching parental care. We found that populations rapidly adapted to the removal of post-hatching parental care. This adaptation involved clear increases in breeding success and larval density (number of dispersing larvae produced per gram of breeding carcass), which in turn masked a concurrent increa...隐蔽演化（Cryptic evolution）指演化变化被同步发生的环境变化所掩盖的现象。多数情况下，表型的演化变化会被持续变化的非生物因子所掩盖。然而，某一性状的演化变化也可能被另一性状的演化变化所掩盖，这一现象被称为演化环境恶化（evolutionary environmental deterioration）。尽管如此，检测这类第二类隐蔽演化仍颇具挑战性，目前鲜有令人信服的研究案例。本研究描述了一例疑似演化环境恶化的案例，该案例来自实验种群中的埋葬甲（Nicrophorus vespilloides），这类种群正适应一种缺乏孵化后亲代抚育的新型社会环境。研究发现，这些种群快速适应了移除孵化后亲代抚育的实验处理。该适应过程伴随繁殖成功率与幼虫密度（每克繁殖用尸体重产生的扩散幼虫数量）的显著提升，而这两者反过来掩盖了同期发生的……