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This content will become publicly available on November 8, 2025

Title: Asymmetrical hybridization and environmental factors influence the spatial genetic structure of a killifish hybrid zone
Abstract Hybridization offers insight into speciation and the forces that maintain barriers to reproduction, and hybrid zones provide excellent opportunities to test how environment shapes barriers to reproduction and hybrid fitness. A hybrid zone between the killifish, Fundulus heteroclitus and Fundulus grandis, had been identified in northeastern Florida, although the spatial structure and parameters that affect the distribution of the two species remain unknown. The present study aimed to determine the fine-scale spatial genetic patterns of the hybrid zone to test the hypothesis that species ranges are influenced by changes in dominant vegetation and to determine how differences in reproductive barriers between the two species influence the observed patterns. The area of overlap between the two species spanned ~37 km and showed a mosaic pattern of hybridization, suggesting the spatial structure of the hybrid zone is largely influenced by the environment. Environmental association analysis, however, suggested that while dominant vegetation had a significant influence on the spatial structure of the hybrid zone, a combination of environmental factors was driving the observed patterns. Hybridization tended to be rare at sites where F. heteroclitus was the more abundant species, suggesting that differences in preference for conspecifics can lead to differences in rates of introgression into parental taxa and likely result in a range-shift as opposed to adaptation in the face of climate change.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2244665 1852488
PAR ID:
10573247
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Editor(s):
Taylor, Scott; Wolf, Jason
Publisher / Repository:
Oxford University Press
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Evolution
Volume:
79
Issue:
2
ISSN:
0014-3820
Page Range / eLocation ID:
232 to 248
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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