
doi: 10.1111/mec.15192
pmid: 31339595
AbstractGenetic admixture, the intraspecific hybridization among divergent introduced sources, can immediately facilitate colonization via hybrid vigor and profoundly enhance invasion via contributing novel genetic variation to adaption. As hybrid vigor is short‐lived, provisioning adaptation is anticipated to be the dominant and long‐term profit of genetic admixture, but the evidence for this is rare. We employed the 30 years' geographic‐scale invasion of the salt marsh grass, Spartina alterniflora, as an evolutionary experiment and evaluated the consequences of genetic admixture by combining the reciprocal transplant experiment with quantitative and population genetic surveys. Consistent with the documentation, we found that the invasive populations in China had multiple origins from the southern Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico in the US. Interbreeding among these multiple sources generated a “hybrid swarm” that spread throughout the coast of China. In the northern and mid‐latitude China, natural selection greatly enhanced fecundity, plant height and shoot regeneration compared to the native populations. Furthermore, genetic admixture appeared to have broken the negative correlation between plant height and shoot regeneration, which was genetically‐based in the native range, and have facilitated the evolution of super competitive genotypes in the invasive range. In contrast to the evolved northern and mid‐latitude populations, the southern invasive populations showed slight increase of plant height and shoot regeneration compared to the native populations, possibly reflecting the heterotic effect of the intraspecific hybridization. Therefore, our study suggests a critical role of genetic admixture in accelerating the geographic invasion via provisioning rapid adaptive evolution.
580, intraspecific hybridization, Chloroplasts, rapid adaptation, Poaceae, Adaptation, Physiological, Biological Evolution, Genetics, Population, Phenotype, Haplotypes, multiple introductions, Spartina alterniflora, Selection, Genetic, Introduced Species, genetic admixture, hybrid vigor
580, intraspecific hybridization, Chloroplasts, rapid adaptation, Poaceae, Adaptation, Physiological, Biological Evolution, Genetics, Population, Phenotype, Haplotypes, multiple introductions, Spartina alterniflora, Selection, Genetic, Introduced Species, genetic admixture, hybrid vigor
| selected citations These citations are derived from selected sources. This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | 78 | |
| popularity This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network. | Top 1% | |
| influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Top 10% | |
| impulse This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network. | Top 1% |
