REINFORCEMENT: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON AN OLD CONTROVERSY

@article{Hostert1997REINFORCEMENTAN,
  title={REINFORCEMENT: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON AN OLD CONTROVERSY},
  author={Ellen E. Hostert},
  journal={Evolution},
  year={1997},
  volume={51}
}
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… 
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56 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
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Background Citations
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Methods Citations
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Results Citations
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56 Citations

What is wrong with the “development of isolating mechanisms” (and its special case of “reinforcement”)?

The conclusion has been drawn that the model of the reinforcement of incompatibility in zones of repeated contact with hybridization is not supported by the data, as is the character displacement model that follows from it.

Reinforcement and other consequences of sympatry2

  • M. Noor
  • Biology, Psychology
    Heredity
  • 1999
Some recent studies of reinforcement are reviewed, alternative explanations for the pattern of greater species discrimination in sympatric taxa are discussed, and some new directions that may help to clarify the evolutionary forces involved are pointed to.

Speciation by Natural and Sexual Selection: Models and Experiments

It is shown that the geographical context of speciation can be viewed as a form of assortative mating and this provides a framework for interpreting results from laboratory experiments, which are found to agree generally with theoretical predictions about conditions that are favorable to the evolution of prezygotic isolation.

Seeking signatures of reinforcement at the genetic level: a hitchhiking mapping and candidate gene approach in the house mouse

A hitchhiking mapping approach targeting genomic regions containing candidate genes for assortative mating in mice is adopted, finding a handful of loci showing the expected pattern of significant reduction in variability in populations close to the hybrid zone, showingAssortative odour preference in mate choice experiments as compared to populations further away and displaying no such preference.

Effective population size may limit the power of laboratory experiments to demonstrate sympatric and parapatric speciation

This study demonstrates that the experimental evidence frequently used as an argument against sympatric and parapatric speciation models is not as strong as previously believed.

Decoding Asymmetries in Reproductive Character Displacement

Reproductive Character Displacement often appears to be asymmetrical, but further study may show that asymmetries in RCD contain important clues about the interactions of species in contact zones.

Laboratory environments are not conducive for allopatric speciation

It is suggested that allopatric speciation experiments are more likely to yield conclusive results under divergent selection than under drift, and points to the benefits of large populations and many generations.

Divergence in Mate Choice Systems: does Evolution Play by Rules?

Progress in understanding the causal forces driving mating signal evolution and incipient speciation will be expedited in model systems where ecological and evolutionary information is available and different aspects of mating behaviors that function in mate and/or species recognition are known.

A direct experimental test of founder‐flush effects on the evolutionary potential for assortative mating

Multivariate analyses on the courtship repertoires found that, although both bottlenecked and nonbottlenecked treatments attained similar levels of assortative mating, the treatments exhibited different evolutionary solutions in their correlated responses, suggesting that the bottlenecked lines had greater potential for the evolution of novel phenotypes as predicted by founder‐induced speciation models.

A BIOGEOGRAPHIC GENETIC APPROACH FOR TESTING THE ROLE OF REINFORCEMENT: THE CASE OF DROSOPHILA PSEUDOOBSCURA AND D. PERSIMILIS

More parsimonious explanations such as reinforcement without genetic exchange (model II) and ecological differentiation, which require high levels of preexisting reproductive isolation between populations, are suggested.
...

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