Demographic and reproductive impacts of hybridization unrelated to hybrid viability in a native plant

Introduced species can influence native congeners through production of hybrids and introgression, but impacts not involving viable hybrids, such as reduced conspecific offspring and increased asexual seed production, are rarely examined. Here we tested for these demographic and reproductive consequences of hybridization between introduced, domesticated apple (Malus domestica) and native crabapple (M. coronaria) in southern Canada.

We applied four pollination treatments (open, M. coronaria, M. domestica, open + M. coronaria) to focal M. coronaria trees across multiple years and assessed the number and reproductive origins of resulting seeds (hybrid or conspecific endosperm and, for each, sexual or asexual embryo) using flow cytometry.

In open-pollinated fruit, 27% of seeds had hybrid endosperm; 52% of embryos were asexual. The number of conspecific embryos (sexual or asexual) per fruit did not decline significantly with increasing hybridization, indicating no seed discounting, but hand pollinations using only domestic apple or crabapple pollen reduced the number of conspecific embryos significantly. Hybridization was not associated with a change in percentage asexual embryos, overall, but there was an increase in asexual embryos in tetraploid seeds, the maternal and most common offspring ploidy.

We conclude that hybridization can influence native Malus in ways beyond the production of viable hybrids, with significant implications for population dynamics and genetic structure.