Weak crossability barrier but strong juvenile selection supports ecological speciation of the hybrid pine Pinus densata on the Tibetan plateau.

ABSTRACT: Determining how a new hybrid lineage can achieve reproductive isolation is a key to understanding the process and mechanisms of homoploid hybrid speciation. Here, we evaluated the degree and nature of reproductive isolation between the ecologically successful hybrid species Pinus densata and its parental species P. tabuliformis and P. yunnanensis. We performed interspecific crosses among the three species to assess their crossability. We then conducted reciprocal transplantation experiments to evaluate their fitness differentiation, and to examine how natural populations representing different directions of introgression differ in adaptation. The crossing experiments revealed weak genetic barriers among the species. The transplantation trials showed manifest evidence of local adaptation as

SUBMITTER: Zhao W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4278550 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature