Abstract
Hybrid Phoxinus are one of the few asexually reproducing vertebrates species. The distribution of hybrid Phoxinus among lakes in Algonquin Park, Ontario, was evaluated relative to the distribution of parental species and relative to physiochemical lake characteristics. No association between the distribution of hybrids and the distribution of parental species was found, suggesting that the hybrids can successfully coexist with either parental species. In addition, we found no association between hybrid distribution and the physiochemical characteristics of lakes, suggesting that the hybrids are generalists with respect to the ecological niches available in Algonquin Park. There was a difference between the physiochemical characteristics of lakes with and without the parental species P. neogaeus. The lakes containing P. neogaeus were lower elevation than the lakes containing the other parental species, P. eos. The difference in distribution between the parental species may therefore be due to different dispersal abilities, to later arrival following post-glacial dispersal, or to differences in ecology. These results suggest that asexual reproduction is a successful strategy for hybrid Phoxinus in Algonquin Park because these sperm-dependent asexual hybrids are able to survive and persist regardless of which parental species is present, and regardless of the physiochemical characteristics of their habitat.
Highlights
The evolution of sex and maintenance of sex are important unanswered questions in evolutionary biology [1]
There was a significant association between physiochemical characteristics and the presence of P. neogaeus (DFA: df = 68, Wilks’ lambda = 0.7811, p = 0.04551)(figure 2), and the discriminant function analysis (DFA) model reliably predicted group membership despite different group sizes
This observation suggests that the hybrids in Algonquin Park are generalists with respect to which parental species they use as a sperm donor
Summary
The evolution of sex and maintenance of sex are important unanswered questions in evolutionary biology [1]. There are a variety of factors that might contribute to the successful coexistence of asexuallyand sexually-reproducing species [9,10,11,12]. One such factor is the existence of important ecological differences between the asexuals and sexuals. If these ecological differences are important in allowing the persistence of the asexuals, one would expect that coexistence would be successful in some habitats (e.g., lakes with particular physiochemical characteristics) and not in others
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