title: Hybridization facilitates evolutionary rescue.
abstract: The resilience of populations to rapid environmental degradation is a major concern for biodiversity conservation. When environments deteriorate to lethal levels, species must evolve to adapt to the new conditions to avoid extinction. Here, we test the hypothesis that evolutionary rescue may be enabled by hybridization, because hybridization increases genetic variability. Using experimental evolution, we show that interspecific hybrid populations of Saccharomyces yeast adapt to grow in more highly degraded environments than intraspecific and parental crosses, resulting in survival rates far exceeding those of their ancestors. We conclude that hybridization can increase evolutionary responsiveness and that taxa able to exchange genes with distant relatives may better survive rapid environmental change.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool Liverpool, UK.
authors.forename: Rike B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Stelkens
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of York York, UK.
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Brockhurst
authors.affiliation: Institute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool Liverpool, UK.
authors.forename: Gregory D D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Hurst
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology Plön, Germany ; The Galton Laboratory, Department of Genetics, Evolution, and Environment, University College London London, UK.
authors.forename: Duncan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Greig
keywords: Saccharomyces; evolutionary rescue; extinction; genetic variation; global change; hybridization