Discussion: DiVittorio et al (2020)

After our in-class discussion, you should respond to at least two other student’s posts within a week.

Reference: DiVittorio, C. T., S. Singhal, A. B. Roddy, F. Zapata, D. D. Ackerly, B. G. Baldwin, C. R. Brodersen, A. Búrquez, P. V. A. Fine, M. Padilla Flores, E. Solis, J. Morales-Villavicencio, D. Morales-Arce, and D. W. Kyhos. 2020. Natural selection maintains species despite frequent hybridization in the desert shrub Encelia. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 117:33373–33383.

If parental seeds die when they get dispersed into their nonnative habitat and this reduces the frequency of hybridization, which is why they remain distinct and maintain their species, then why do hybrids still grow abundantly in the hybrid zone and evidence even suggests that there is high potential gene flow?