Multifaceted, cross-generational costs of hybridization in sibling Drosophila species

Maladaptive hybridization, as determined by the pattern and intensity of selection against hybrid individuals, is an important factor contributing to the evolution of prezygotic reproductive isolation. To identify the consequences of hybridization between Drosophila pseudoobscura and D. persimilis, we estimated multiple fitness components for F1 hybrids and backcross progeny and used these to compare the relative fitness of parental species and their hybrids across two generations. We document many sources of intrinsic (developmental) and extrinsic (ecological) selection that dramatically increase the fitness costs of hybridization beyond the well-documented F1 male sterility in this model system. Our results indicate that the cost of hybridization accrues over multiple generations and reinforcement in this system is driven by selection against hybridization above and beyond the cost of hybrid male sterility; we estimate a fitness loss of >95% relative to the parental species across two generations of hybridization. Our findings demonstrate the importance of estimating hybridization costs using multiple fitness measures from multiple generations in an ecologically relevant context; so doing can reveal intense postzygotic selection against hybridization and thus, an enhanced role for reinforcement in the evolution of populations and diversification of species.