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Co-occurrence and reproductive synchrony do not ensure hybridization between an alien tunicate and its interfertile native congener

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Abstract

Biological invasions can promote secondary contacts between related species and thus provide excellent case studies for investigating the joint ecological and evolutionary trajectories of interfertile taxa. Here, we studied two tunicates living in sympatry, and sometimes in syntopy, in the English Channel, Ciona intestinalis species A (presumed native to the NW Pacific) and species B (native to the N Atlantic). In addition to monitoring their co-existence over time, we examined the level of interspecific gene flow, a process that may increase the invasiveness of the non-native species. The sampling scheme was repeated twice a year for 3 years (six distinct generations) to determine the relative abundance of the two species in 11 localities along the coasts of the English Channel and the Iroise Sea (covering 1600 km) in Brittany, France. We examined 23,000 individuals, including 5315 specimens for which reproductive status was determined. Four species-diagnostic molecular markers traced interspecific gene flow on a random subset of 3048 individuals. Regardless of the sampling date, the two species co-occurred in most of the study sites, with species A showing higher frequency in the autumn. The regional pattern of seasonal variation in relative abundance of the two congeners appears to correspond to different thermal growth optima. Abrupt variations in environmental parameters can act synergistically and may favor the non-native species locally. Despite syntopy, synchronous gamete production and successful in vitro interspecific crosses, only 4.3 % individuals showed an admixed genome (i.e. footprint of present-day or past introgression events), most of them with a species A maternal lineage, of which only one was a putative first generation hybrid. Altogether, efficient barriers seem to prevent interspecific crosses between the two interfertile congeners in the wild: present-day hybridization may have less impact than competitive interactions on the fate of the two study species over their sympatric range.

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Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to the divers of the Marine Operations Department (Service Mer and Observation) at the Roscoff Biological Station for help in the field and to M. Danielo for assistance in data acquisition. FV thanks M. Nydam for her recommendations regarding molecular protocols. We are thankful for the numerous marina operators who provided access to pontoons and permission to carry out this study. We acknowledge S. Le Cam and T. Broquet for advices regarding statistical analyses, N. Bierne for stimulating discussions about hybridization and introgression processes, and C. Lejeusne and T. Comtet for comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. This work was supported by the Interreg IVa Marinexus program and the ANR Project HYSEA (No. ANR-12-BSV7-0011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 6, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680, Roscoff, France

    Sarah Bouchemousse, Laurent Lévêque, Guillaume Dubois & Frédérique Viard

  2. CNRS, UMR 7144, Equipe Div&Co, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680, Roscoff, France

    Sarah Bouchemousse, Guillaume Dubois & Frédérique Viard

  3. CNRS, FR 2424, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680, Roscoff, France

    Laurent Lévêque

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  1. Sarah Bouchemousse
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Correspondence to Sarah Bouchemousse or Frédérique Viard.

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Bouchemousse, S., Lévêque, L., Dubois, G. et al. Co-occurrence and reproductive synchrony do not ensure hybridization between an alien tunicate and its interfertile native congener. Evol Ecol 30, 69–87 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-015-9788-1

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