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The smelly path to sympatric speciation?
Author(s) -
Brock Chad D.,
Wagner Catherine E.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/mec.14845
Subject(s) - sympatric speciation , biology , introgression , adaptive radiation , parapatric speciation , cichlid , evolutionary biology , genetic algorithm , gene flow , ecology , ecological speciation , allopatric speciation , phylogenetics , population , gene , genetic variation , genetics , fishery , fish <actinopterygii> , demography , sociology
In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Poelstra et al. ([Poelstra, J., 2018]) use genomic data to show that cichlid species in the adaptive radiation in Lake Ejagham, Cameroon, experienced gene flow with a riverine relative, primarily prior to their diversification. Intriguingly, this introgression brought with it olfactory alleles that the authors suggest may play a sensory role in speciation. As a classic example of sympatric speciation due to the highly restricted geography of this small (0.49 km 2 ) crater lake (Schliewen et al., [Schliewen, U., 2001]), this result sheds new light on the history of this fascinating radiation. As genomic data for cichlid radiations accumulate, finding evidence of introgression increasingly appears to be the rule rather than the exception (Kautt et al., [Kautt, A. F., 2016]; Meier et al., [Meier, J. I., 2016], [Meier, J. I., 2017]). However, two points are pressing as evidence for introgression mounts: (a) It is crucial to understand the assumptions of analytical approaches used and (b) it is important to think clearly about the divergent contexts in which evidence for introgression has been invoked as an important feature of adaptive radiation.