The importance of hybridization and hybrid zones in pelagic systems is largely unknown, in part because planktonic species are generally assumed to be reproductively isolated. However, lakes in their entirety represent potential hybrid zones throughout which sympatric species may mate and hybridize. Recent field evidence for the existence of intermediate phenotypes together with behavioral observations of heterospecific matings suggest that hybridization may be much more common than previously thought in these systems. This study examines the potential for hybridization of two related copepod species, Diaptomus minutus and D. pygmaeus, that co-occur in lakes throughout the northeastern United States. Field and experimental laboratory data were collected to: (1) compare the spatial and temporal occurrence of these two congeners in a single lake; (2) quantify the extent to which mating errors occur insitu; (3) examine the species specific mating cues that potentially affect the probability of hybridization; and (4) determine the potential for gametic compatibility and hybrid viability of these two species. D. minutus and D. pygmaeus are spatially and temporally sympatric, and the timing of their reproductive activity can be coincident insitu. One-directional mating errors occur frequently in both the laboratory and the field (e.g., upto 70% of D.minutus females in situ may carry spermatophores from D.pygmaeus males). Very low but successful production of hybrids also occurs, demonstrating that their gametes are indeed compatible and their hybrids are sometimes viable. These results underscore the potential for hybridization to play a greater role in speciation and contribute more to phenotypic diversity in aquatic crustacean communities than previously shown.

Chen, C.Y. and C.L. Folt, Oecologia 111: 557-564, 1997.