2011 Tsunami Led to Hybridization in Stickleback Fish but Species Boundaries Persisted

Following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, freshwater and marine threespine stickleback hybridized in a new wetland in Otsuchi, Japan. Nine years of genomic tracking showed rapid elimination of marine genomic regions within ten generations, highlighting reproductive-isolation loci and genetic incompatibilities that maintain species boundaries. This study provides rare real-time insight into genetic mechanisms preserving species integrity despite hybridization.

Originally published by gnews