Patterns of Hybridization in the Asteraceae Family Detected Through Systematic Review of the Primary Literature

Abstract

Hybridization is an important evolutionary and biological phenomenon, especially in plants, which hybridize more frequently than animals and fungi. Plant species that hybridize often exhibit additivity, both morphologically and genetically, meaning that their resulting form and genetic composition can show increased variance depending on the type of hybridization that occurred. Therefore, hybridization can allow for evolutionarily beneficial processes such as speciation, trait diversification, range expansion, and adaptive radiation. However, there is a current lack of insight into the mechanisms behind hybridization and the frequency of hybridization across certain taxonomic groups. Therefore, this project seeks to further investigate and understand the frequency of hybridization and the traits associated with hybridization taxonomically across the largest and most diverse flowering plant family, Asteraceae.