Data from: Exposure to an environmental estrogen breaks down sexual isolation between native and invasive species

Environmental change can increase the likelihood of interspecific hybridization by altering properties of mate recognition and discrimination between sympatric congeners. We examined how exposure to an environmentally widespread endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC), Bisphenol A (BPA), affected visual communication signals and behavioral isolation between an introduced freshwater fish and a native congener (genus: Cyprinella). Exposure to BPA induced changes in the expression of male secondary traits as well as male and female mate choice, leading to an overall reduction in prezygotic isolation between congeners. Changes in female mate discrimination were not tightly linked to changes in male phenotypic traits, suggesting that EDC exposure may alter female choice thresholds independently of the effects of exposure on males. These findings indicate that environmental exposure to EDCs can lead to population declines via the erosion of species boundaries and by promoting the establishment and spread of non-native species via hybridization.

环境变化可通过改变同域近缘物种间的配偶识别与判别特性，提升种间杂交发生的概率。本研究探究了环境中广泛存在的内分泌干扰物（endocrine disrupting chemical, EDC）双酚A（Bisphenol A, BPA）暴露，如何影响一种引入淡水鱼类与本土近缘真小鲤属（Cyprinella）物种间的视觉通讯信号与行为隔离。双酚A暴露会改变雄性第二性征的表达，同时影响雌雄个体的配偶选择行为，最终导致近缘物种间的合子前隔离整体减弱。雌性配偶判别行为的变化与雄性表型性状的改变并无紧密关联，这表明内分泌干扰物暴露可能独立于其对雄性的影响，改变雌性的选择阈值。本研究结果表明，环境中暴露于内分泌干扰物，可通过侵蚀物种边界、促进外来物种通过杂交完成定殖与扩散，进而导致种群数量下降。