Tracing the footprints of a moving hybrid zone under a demographic history of speciation with gene flow.

ABSTRACT: A lack of optimal gene combinations, as well as low levels of genetic diversity, is often associated with the formation of species range margins. Conservation efforts rely on predictive modelling using abiotic variables and assessments of genetic diversity to determine target species and populations for controlled breeding, germplasm conservation and assisted migration. Biotic factors such as interspecific competition and hybridization, however, are largely ignored, despite their prevalence across diverse taxa and their role as key evolutionary forces. Hybridization between species with well-developed barriers to reproductive isolation often results in the production of offspring with lower fitness. Generation of novel allelic combinations through hybridization, however, can also generate

SUBMITTER: Menon M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6935588 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature