Hybrid wood ants are using a 200-kilometer northward march to conquer territory their parents couldn't survive.
Cross-breeding between species is usually considered a biological dead end or a mistake. These hybrid ants have combined the best traits of two different species to thrive in climates that are becoming too warm for their ancestors. They are expanding their range toward the North Pole at a rate that is outpacing almost every other local species. This shows that hybridization is a powerful tool for survival that allows life to adapt to rapid climate change in just a few generations. Evolution is using these errors to build more resilient organisms that can handle a warming world.
Evidence for Climate-mediated Range Expansion of Hybrid Wood Ants
SSRN · 6690548
Climate change challenges many species. To persist, species can shift ranges, respond plastically, and adapt, which all require variation – often limited in natural populations. Hybridisation can quickly increase genetic variation, potentially facilitating climate adaptation, however it is unclear how hybrids respond to climatic changes. Here, we combine whole-genome, life-history, acute heat-shock, and climatic data of 69 wood ant populations across Finland to assess whether F. aquilonia x F. p