A phylogeographic investigation of the hybrid origin of a species of swordtail fish from Mexico

• Applicant: Julia Jones, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Evolutionary Cell and Developmental Biology (Zoology)
• Term: from 2010 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 163418330

The crossing (or hybridizing) of different species has the potential to greatly affect the diversity of life. Understanding the role of hybridization in evolutionary history is therefore critical in understanding the diversity of life we see today. Recent evidence suggests that Xiphophorus clemenciae, a small freshwater swordtail fish endemic to Meso-America, arose through natural hybridization between a southern swordtail species such as X. helleri and a swordless platyfish such as X. maculatus. Natural hybridization is known to feature in the evolutionary history of various animal lineages. However, few studies so far have examined through what mechanism hybrid origins of new species occur. This project has three main goals: 1. to investigate the historical and contemporary role of gene flow in hybridization in the evolutionary history of swordtail species, with particular emphasis on X. clemenciae and its putative ancestral species; 2. to determine which environmental features may have influenced gene flow in the past and permit it to occur today; 3. to identify the current distribution and population genetic structure of X. clemenciae, in order to inform conservation management in relation to this potentially rare and endangered species.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants