After reading an article in A/C I began wondering... what does it take for a hybrid to be considered a species?
From Hybrid To Species
Started by
Guest_fishlvr_*
, Sep 28 2007 03:37 PM
10 replies to this topic
#2
Guest_TomNear_*
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Posted 28 September 2007 - 05:23 PM
I would think that if the hybrid was reproductively isolated from the parental species, then it would be considered a species. Despite the debate regarding the utility of the biological species concept, it is the default concept that is applied to these instances of hybrid speciation.After reading an article in A/C I began wondering... what does it take for a hybrid to be considered a species?
#3
Guest_Aphanius_*
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Posted 29 September 2007 - 06:49 AM
So is poecilia formosa a species? 
Martin
Martin
I would think that if the hybrid was reproductively isolated from the parental species, then it would be considered a species. Despite the debate regarding the utility of the biological species concept, it is the default concept that is applied to these instances of hybrid speciation.
#7
Guest_sandtiger_*
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Posted 29 September 2007 - 11:41 AM
So if, say, two Gambusia species hybridize, and the hybrid gets isolated from the "pure" populations, it becomes a species?
If my understanding is correct this is only true if they can reproduce and make fertile offspring.
#8
Guest_Aphanius_*
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Posted 29 September 2007 - 01:53 PM
Yes, but P formosa is a species of hybrid origin (P. latipinna x mexicana) and it is not reproductive isolated from its parent species as it needs males from the parent species to make off spring. There is always forms that dont fit into our definitions. It is even worse with plants where many species borrow genes from related species to either improve or at least change their own species/local form.
Obviously the species concept is artificial.
Martin
Obviously the species concept is artificial.
Martin
#9
Guest_fundulus_*
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Posted 29 September 2007 - 02:38 PM
Allow me to disagree. Species is the one taxonomic category that exists in nature. Everything above that is a human construct. No one "species concept" fits all the variations in nature. P. formosa is an odd case, but they have their own genome even if behaviorally they need to interact with one of their ancestral species. It's like the parthenogenic whiptail lizard species, which have higher reproductive output if they're mounted by other members of their all-female species before producing eggs through meiosis. Often we need to step out of our mammalian view of the world.Obviously the species concept is artificial.
Martin
#11
Guest_bpkeck_*
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Posted 30 September 2007 - 09:34 PM
I would say that species is the closest human construct we have to what is actually going on. Our concepts of species are definitely varied and biased towards the organisms we know. Organisms with a hybrid origin are and can be described as species. As Tom said before they typically are isolated form their parental populations. This is what Sandtiger brings up as well, that they can be self populating and don't require or have continual input from one of the parental populations. Hybrid fish happen a lot more than people think (accept), but relative to the number of F1 hybrids, the actual amount of genetic exchange or number of hybrid populations is extremely small. We have 'rules' that guide our expectations given our experiences, but our expectations are often not met... and there is nothing wrong with that. This is part of what makes fish keeping (which is scientific research in its own right) and acedemics so much fun! In science, rules are kinda like stereotypes... you're gonna lose out if you take'm to be universally true.
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