Photo: Kochia, southwest Montana. © 2020 Delena Norris-Tull
Admixture, hybridization and polyploidization: Their role in biological invasions
Summaries of the research and commentary by Dr. Delena Norris-Tull, Professor Emerita of Science Education, University of Montana Western, July 2020.
Through intra-specific breeding between historically isolated populations, or hybridization between closely related but different species, and multiple introductions from diverse ranges, the genetic diversity of an introduced species may be increased. These effects have largely been overlooked in the research. Research on polyploidy has shown links with invasion success.
“For introduced trees whole-genome duplication… might be a particularly important evolutionary mechanism. Polyploidization [the ability of many plant species to hybridize with other species by combining the chromosomes of both species] is often employed in forestry species because of the immediate and sometimes large phenotypic effects such as increased growth rate, denser wood and resistance to pathogens” (Zenni, et al., 2017).
“In the unified framework, [these three breeding effects can allow] the expression of novel phenotypes with increased fitness compared to source populations” (Zenni, et al., 2017).
Reference:
Next Sections on research on evolutionary dynamics:
Next Sections on research on success of invasive species:
Admixture, hybridization and polyploidization: Their role in biological invasions
Summaries of the research and commentary by Dr. Delena Norris-Tull, Professor Emerita of Science Education, University of Montana Western, July 2020.
Through intra-specific breeding between historically isolated populations, or hybridization between closely related but different species, and multiple introductions from diverse ranges, the genetic diversity of an introduced species may be increased. These effects have largely been overlooked in the research. Research on polyploidy has shown links with invasion success.
“For introduced trees whole-genome duplication… might be a particularly important evolutionary mechanism. Polyploidization [the ability of many plant species to hybridize with other species by combining the chromosomes of both species] is often employed in forestry species because of the immediate and sometimes large phenotypic effects such as increased growth rate, denser wood and resistance to pathogens” (Zenni, et al., 2017).
“In the unified framework, [these three breeding effects can allow] the expression of novel phenotypes with increased fitness compared to source populations” (Zenni, et al., 2017).
Reference:
- Zenni, R.D., Dickie, I.A., Wingfield, M.J., Hirsch, H., Crous, C.J., Meyerson, L.A., Burgess, T.I., Zimmermann, T.G., Klock, M.M., Siemann, E., Erfmeier, A., Aragon, R., Montti, L, & LeRoux, J.J. (Jan., 2017). Evolutionary dynamics of tree invasions: Complementing the unified framework for biological invasions. AoB Plants, 9 (1), 1-14 [plw085; 10.1093/aobpla/plw085].
Next Sections on research on evolutionary dynamics:
Next Sections on research on success of invasive species: