Rise and fall of a hybrid zone: implications for the roles of aggression, mate choice, and secondary succession

Hybridization can be an important evolutionary force by generating new species and influencing evolution of parental species in multiple ways, including introgression and the consequences of hybrid vigor. Determining the ecological processes underlying evolution in hybrid zones is difficult however because it requires examining changes in both genotypic frequencies over time and corresponding ecological information, data that are rarely collected together. Here, we describe genetic and ecological aspects of a hybrid zone between the Eastern Fence Lizard, Sceloporus undulatus, and the Florida Scrub Lizard, Sceloporus woodi, occurring over at least 23 generations. The hybrid zone, discovered greater than 35 years ago using morphological characters, originally consisted of nearly even proportions of parental species and hybrids. Now, using genetic markers (species-diagnostic mtDNA sites and 6 nDNA microsatellite loci across a total of n = 117 individuals), we confirm not only that hybridiz...

杂交（Hybridization）是一类关键的进化驱动力：它既可通过物种形成产生新类群，也能以多种路径影响亲本物种的演化，包括基因渐渗（introgression）与杂交优势（hybrid vigor）所介导的各类演化效应。然而，解析杂交带（hybrid zones）演化背后的生态过程极具挑战——此类研究需同时追踪种群基因型频率随时间的动态变化，以及对应的生态信息，但这类联动数据往往难以同步获取。本研究针对一处已延续至少23代的蜥蜴杂交带，阐述其遗传与生态特征。该杂交带分布于东部栅栏蜥（Eastern Fence Lizard，*Sceloporus undulatus*）与佛罗里达灌丛蜥（Florida Scrub Lizard，*Sceloporus woodi*）之间。该杂交带早在35年前便已通过形态学特征被发现，初始阶段亲本物种与杂交个体的占比近乎均等。本次研究通过遗传标记（物种特异性线粒体DNA位点与6个核DNA微卫星位点，共对117个个体进行检测），不仅证实了……