Selection on hybrids of ecologically divergent ecotypes of a marine snail: the relative importance of exogenous and endogenous barriers

• Published in: Biological journal of the Linnean Society Vol. 111; no. 2; pp. 391 - 400
• Main Authors: Galindo, Juan, Rivas, Maria J, Saura, María, Rolán‐Alvarez, Emilio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.02.2014; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: adaptation; ecotypes; gene flow; hybrids; introgression; Littorina; Littorina saxatilis; microhabitats; mosaic hybrid zone; natural selection; phenotype; post-zygotic isolation; premating isolation; reproductive isolation; snails
• ISSN: 0024-4066; 1095-8312
• DOI: 10.1111/bij.12197

Unravelling the form of selection acting on hybrids of ecotypes undergoing ecological speciation is essential to understand the mechanisms behind the evolution of reproductive isolation in the face of gene flow. Shell phenotype is known to be affected by natural selection and is involved in the fitness of the marine snail Littorina saxatilis. Here, we studied the association between shell traits and fitness in hybrids in order to determine the relative role of exogenous and endogenous selection in this hybrid zone of L. saxatilis. We show that directional selection is the predominant mode of selection among hybrids. We also show its heterogeneity, affecting different shell traits, within populations at the level of the microhabitat. Therefore, endogenous selection mechanisms are most probably lacking in this hybrid zone and exogenous barriers (pre‐ and post‐zygotic) are possibly one of the main forces behind the evolution of barriers to gene flow between these ecologically divergent ecotypes. This study shows how this barrier might represent an important type of reproductive isolation within ecological speciation, and this should be taken into account in future studies of speciation in hybrid zones. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2014, 111, 391–400.