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Hybridization in Annual Plants: Patterns and DynamicsDuring a Four-Year Study in Mixed Rhinanthus Populations

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Abstract

Hybridization in annual plants is rare, but their short life cycle provides an excellent opportunity to study the dynamics of hybridization. Hybridization occurs between the annual hemiparasites Rhinanthus minor and Rhinanthus angustifolius (Orobanchaceae). Using flower morphology, Kwak (1980) found a prevalence of hybrids close to R. angustifolius in a single population. We aim to find whether this pattern is also found using genetic markers, whether it is generally occurring in mixed populations, and whether these populations are stable over time. We used species-specific genetic markers to determine the number of individuals in a range of hybrid classes in three mixed populations of different ages during four consecutive years. In the young population, F1 hybrids were found in the first year and mostly hybrids between R. minor and these F1s in the second year, but in the years after that, hybrids close to R. angustifolius became more abundant. We also found this in the two older populations, where hybrids close to R. angustifolius always occurred in higher frequencies than hybrids close to R. minor. Over time, R. angustifolius strongly increased in frequency in two populations. Patterns of marker presence and absence suggested that advanced-generation hybrids are mainly formed by backcrossing with one of the parents, predominantly R. angustifolius whenever its frequency in the population is higher than 15%. The dynamics of mixed populations depend on the ecological conditions that regulate the presence of the two parental species, and introgression into R. angustifolius seems prevalent.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Linda Dhondt and Christine Noël for their technical assistance in the laboratory, the site managers Jean Vermander of the experimental garden Jardin Massart, Martin Swannet of Kijkverdriet and Kristin Van de Velde of Kalkense Meersen for permission to sample and the Belgian National Fund for Research (FRFC 2.4573.02) and the Fonds Spéciaux de Recherche of Louvain University for financial support. Anonymous reviewers gave useful comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. The floristic data we used to identify possible hybrid populations in Flanders came from the Florabank (permission 2000-wvl-8), provided by Flo.Wer. This is contribution nr. BRC161 of the Biodiversity Research Centre of Louvain University.

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  1. Biodiversity Research Centre, Earth and Life Institute, Louvain University, Croix du Sud 4-5, 1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Véronique Ducarme, Jérôme Vrancken & Renate A. Wesselingh

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  1. Véronique Ducarme
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  3. Renate A. Wesselingh
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Correspondence to Renate A. Wesselingh.

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Ducarme, V., Vrancken, J. & Wesselingh, R.A. Hybridization in Annual Plants: Patterns and DynamicsDuring a Four-Year Study in Mixed Rhinanthus Populations. Folia Geobot 45, 387–405 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12224-010-9077-2

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