REINFORCEMENT: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON AN OLD CONTROVERSY

Ellen E Hostert

doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.1997.tb03653.x

REINFORCEMENT: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON AN OLD CONTROVERSY

Evolution. 1997 Jun;51(3):697-702. doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1997.tb03653.x.

Author

Ellen E Hostert¹

Affiliation

¹ Biology Board, 225 Sinsheimer Labs, University of California, Santa Cruz, California, 95064.

PMID: 28568598
DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1997.tb03653.x

Abstract

A critical component of the reinforcement model, incomplete postzygotic reproductive isolation, has been overlooked in the many selection experiments designed to test this model. Many field observations are consistent with the reinforcement model, but theoretical work predicts that reinforcement should only work when nearly complete postzygotic reproductive isolation has developed. The experiments described here used four levels of postzygotic reproductive isolation: complete, strong, moderate, and none. A significant decrease in heterotypic matings occurred over 25 generations in the complete postzygotic reproductive isolation treatment. No evidence for reinforcement was found in any of the other treatments using incomplete postzygotic reproductive isolation.

Keywords: Prezygotic reproductive isolation; reinforcement; selection-recombination antagonism; speciation.