ArticlePLoS biology2016
Shedding Light on the Grey Zone of Speciation along a Continuum of Genomic Divergence.
Article in PLoS biology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 191 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
191 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Meta-analysis reveals that phenotypic plasticity and divergent selection promote reproductive isolation during incipient speciation.Nature ecology & evolution · 2025Pooled it
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- A Genomic Perspective on Cryptic Species Reveals Complex Evolutionary Dynamics in the Gray Zone of the Speciation Continuum.Systematic biology · 2026Article
- Beyond Morphological Conservatism: Integrative Taxonomy Unveils Remarkable Cryptic Diversity in theAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Differential introgression of mutations reveals selection in spruce.BMC biology · 2026Article
- Speciation of European bullheads (Cottus spp.): The next problem for taxonomy of northern freshwater fishes.Journal of fish biology · 2026Review
- The Evolution of Reproductive Isolation Beyond a Strong First Barrier in Speciation Between Micro-Allopatric Host Races of a Phytophagous Ladybird Beetle,Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Demography and Localized Reservoirs of Diversity Underlie Global Divergence in the Giant Kelp Macrocystis pyrifera.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- A Recipe for a Good π. How to Properly Estimate Population Genetics Summary Statistics and Why we Should Systematically Report Them.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Evolution of genome-wide barriers to gene flow during complex speciation in rattlesnakes.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Genetic Divergence in the Absence of Strong Ecological Differences Between Coexisting White and Common Atlantic Marine Stickleback.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Inferring Time-to-Speciation From Hybrid Zone Analysis Informs Assessments of Taxonomic Inflation.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Assessing the Genetic Health and Conservation Value of an Introduced Urban Population of a Critically Endangered Parrot.Evolutionary applications · 2026Article
- Conservation Units for Anadromous Arctic Char (Evolutionary applications · 2026Article
- Seizure samples reveal complex evolutionary dynamics among Southeast Asian pangolins.Heredity · 2026Article
- Contrasting Reproductive and Early Life-History Strategies in Recently Diverged Octocoral Species (Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Genomic analyses inEvolution letters · 2026Article
- DNA-based identification of plants and the genomic nature of plant species differences.Communications biology · 2026Article
131 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Speciation results from the progressive accumulation of mutations that decrease the probability of mating between parental populations or reduce the fitness of hybrids-the so-called species barriers. The speciation genomic literature, however, is mainly a collection of case studies, each with its own approach and specificities, such that a global view of the gradual process of evolution from one to two species is currently lacking. Of primary importance is the prevalence of gene flow between diverging entities, which is central in most species concepts and has been widely discussed in recent years. Here, we explore the continuum of speciation thanks to a comparative analysis of genomic data from 61 pairs of populations/species of animals with variable levels of divergence. Gene flow between diverging gene pools is assessed under an approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) framework. We show that the intermediate "grey zone" of speciation, in which taxonomy is often controversial, spans from 0.5% to 2% of net synonymous divergence, irrespective of species life history traits or ecology. Thanks to appropriate modeling of among-locus variation in genetic drift and introgression rate, we clarify the status of the majority of ambiguous cases and uncover a number of cryptic species. Our analysis also reveals the high incidence in animals of semi-isolated species (when some but not all loci are affected by barriers to gene flow) and highlights the intrinsic difficulty, both statistical and conceptual, of delineating species in the grey zone of speciation.
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