Naturally occurring hybrids of coral reef butterflyfishes have similar fitness compared to parental species.
Hybridisation can produce evolutionary novelty by increasing fitness and adaptive capacity. Heterosis, or hybrid vigour, has been documented in many plant and animal taxa, and is a notable consequence of hybridisation that has been exploited for decades in agriculture and aquaculture. On the contrar...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Public Library of Science
2017
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/51367 |
| _version_ | 1848758680558764032 |
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| author | Montanari, S. Hobbs, Jean-Paul Pratchett, M. Bay, L. van Herwerden, L. |
| author_facet | Montanari, S. Hobbs, Jean-Paul Pratchett, M. Bay, L. van Herwerden, L. |
| author_sort | Montanari, S. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Hybridisation can produce evolutionary novelty by increasing fitness and adaptive capacity. Heterosis, or hybrid vigour, has been documented in many plant and animal taxa, and is a notable consequence of hybridisation that has been exploited for decades in agriculture and aquaculture. On the contrary, loss of fitness in naturally occurring hybrid taxa has been observed in many cases. This can have negative consequences for the parental species involved (wasted reproductive effort), and has raised concerns for species conservation. This study evaluates the relative fitness of previously documented butterflyfish hybrids of the genus Chaetodon from the Indo-Pacific suture zone at Christmas Island. Histological examination confirmed the reproductive viability of Chaetodon hybrids. Examination of liver lipid content showed that hybrid body condition was not significantly different from parent species body condition. Lastly, size at age data revealed no difference in growth rates and asymptotic length between hybrids and parent species. Based on the traits measured in this study, naturally occurring hybrids of Chaetodon butterflyfishes have similar fitness to their parental species, and are unlikely to supplant parental species under current environmental conditions at the suture zone. However, given sufficient fitness and ongoing genetic exchange between the respective parental species, hybrids are likely to persist within the suture zone. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:47:50Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-51367 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:47:50Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-513672017-09-13T15:41:43Z Naturally occurring hybrids of coral reef butterflyfishes have similar fitness compared to parental species. Montanari, S. Hobbs, Jean-Paul Pratchett, M. Bay, L. van Herwerden, L. Hybridisation can produce evolutionary novelty by increasing fitness and adaptive capacity. Heterosis, or hybrid vigour, has been documented in many plant and animal taxa, and is a notable consequence of hybridisation that has been exploited for decades in agriculture and aquaculture. On the contrary, loss of fitness in naturally occurring hybrid taxa has been observed in many cases. This can have negative consequences for the parental species involved (wasted reproductive effort), and has raised concerns for species conservation. This study evaluates the relative fitness of previously documented butterflyfish hybrids of the genus Chaetodon from the Indo-Pacific suture zone at Christmas Island. Histological examination confirmed the reproductive viability of Chaetodon hybrids. Examination of liver lipid content showed that hybrid body condition was not significantly different from parent species body condition. Lastly, size at age data revealed no difference in growth rates and asymptotic length between hybrids and parent species. Based on the traits measured in this study, naturally occurring hybrids of Chaetodon butterflyfishes have similar fitness to their parental species, and are unlikely to supplant parental species under current environmental conditions at the suture zone. However, given sufficient fitness and ongoing genetic exchange between the respective parental species, hybrids are likely to persist within the suture zone. 2017 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/51367 10.1371/journal.pone.0173212 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Public Library of Science fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Montanari, S. Hobbs, Jean-Paul Pratchett, M. Bay, L. van Herwerden, L. Naturally occurring hybrids of coral reef butterflyfishes have similar fitness compared to parental species. |
| title | Naturally occurring hybrids of coral reef butterflyfishes have similar fitness compared to parental species. |
| title_full | Naturally occurring hybrids of coral reef butterflyfishes have similar fitness compared to parental species. |
| title_fullStr | Naturally occurring hybrids of coral reef butterflyfishes have similar fitness compared to parental species. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Naturally occurring hybrids of coral reef butterflyfishes have similar fitness compared to parental species. |
| title_short | Naturally occurring hybrids of coral reef butterflyfishes have similar fitness compared to parental species. |
| title_sort | naturally occurring hybrids of coral reef butterflyfishes have similar fitness compared to parental species. |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/51367 |