Autotomy, the self‐induced loss of a body part, occurs throughout Animalia. A lizard dropping its tail to escape predation is an iconic example, however, autotomy occurs in a diversity of other organisms. Octopuses can release their arms, crabs can drop their claws, and bugs can amputate their legs. The diversity of organisms that can autotomize body parts has led to a wealth of research and several taxonomically focused reviews. These reviews have played a crucial role in advancing our understanding of autotomy within their respective groups. However, because of their taxonomic focus, these reviews are constrained in their ability to enhance our understanding of autotomy. Here, we aim to synthesize research on the ecology and evolution of autotomy throughout Animalia, building a unified framework on which future studies can expand. We found that the ability to drop an appendage has evolved multiple times throughout Animalia and that once autotomy has evolved, selection appears to act on the removable appendage to increase the efficacy and/or efficiency of autotomy. This could explain why some autotomizable body parts are so elaborate (e.g. brightly coloured). We also show that there are multiple benefits, and variable costs, associated with autotomy. Given this variation, we generate an economic theory of autotomy (modified from the economic theory of escape) which makes predictions about when an individual should resort to autotomy. Finally, we show that the loss of an autotomizable appendage can have numerous consequences on population and community dynamics. By taking this broad taxonomic approach, we identified patterns of autotomy that transcend specific lineages and highlight clear directions for future research.

中文翻译：

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自体切割的生态与进化

自体切除术，即身体某部分的自我丧失，发生在整个动物界。蜥蜴为了逃避捕食而放下尾巴是一个标志性的例子，然而，在其他多种生物中也会发生自体切割。章鱼可以松开手臂，螃蟹可以放下爪子，虫子可以截肢。可以自动分解身体部位的生物体的多样性导致了大量的研究和一些以分类学为重点的评论。这些评论在促进我们对各自组内自体切除术的理解方面发挥了至关重要的作用。然而，由于它们的分类重点，这些评论在增强我们对自体切割的理解的能力方面受到限制。在这里，我们的目标是综合对整个动物界自体解剖的生态学和进化的研究，建立一个统一的框架，以便未来的研究可以扩展。我们发现，在整个动物界，掉落附属物的能力已经进化了多次，一旦自体切除术已经进化，选择似乎会作用于可移动的附属物，以提高自体切除术的功效和/或效率。这可以解释为什么一些可自动化的身体部位如此精致（例如颜色鲜艳）。我们还表明，与自体切除术相关的多种益处和可变成本。考虑到这种变化，我们产生了一个自动切开的经济理论（从逃避的经济理论修改而来），​​它可以预测一个人何时应该求助于自动切开。最后，我们表明可自动切割的附属物的丢失会对人口和社区动态产生许多影响。通过采用这种广泛的分类方法，