# Polyploid complex

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{{Short description|Group of interrelated and interbreeding species that also have differing levels of ploidy}}
A '''polyploid complex''', also called a '''diploid-polyploid complex''', is a group of interrelated and interbreeding species that also have differing levels of [ploidy](/source/ploidy) that can allow [interbreeding](/source/interbreeding).

A [polyploid](/source/polyploid) complex was described by [E. B. Babcock](/source/E._B._Babcock) and [G. Ledyard Stebbins](/source/G._Ledyard_Stebbins) in their 1938 monograph ''The American Species of ''Crepis'': their interrelationships and distribution as affected by polyploidy and apomixis''. In ''[Crepis](/source/Crepis)'' and some other perennial plant species, a polyploid complex may arise where there are at least two genetically isolated diploid populations, in addition to auto- and allopolyploid derivatives that coexist and interbreed. Thus a complex network of interrelated forms may exist where the polyploid forms allow for intermediate forms between the diploid species that are otherwise unable to interbreed.<ref>{{citation |author=Stebbins, G.L. Jr. |year=1940 |title=The Significance of Polyploidy in Plant Evolution |journal=The American Naturalist |volume=74 |issue=750 |pages=54–66 |jstor=2457323 |doi= 10.1086/280872|bibcode=1940ANat...74...54S |s2cid=86709379 }}</ref>

This complex situation does not fit well within the [biological species concept](/source/biological_species_concept) of [Ernst Mayr](/source/Ernst_Mayr) which defines a species as "groups of actually or potentially interbreeding natural populations which are reproductively isolated from other such groups".

In many diploid-polyploid complexes the polyploid hybrid members reproduce [asexually](/source/asexual_reproduction) while diploids reproduce sexually.<ref name=Horandl>{{citation |author1=Elvira Hörandl |author2=Anne-Caroline Cosendai |author3=Eva Maria Temsch |year=2008 |title=Understanding the geographic distributions of apomictic plants: a case for a pluralistic approach |journal=Plant Ecology & Diversity |volume=1|issue=2 |pages=309–320 |doi=10.1080/17550870802351175|pmc=2950697 |pmid=20936092}}</ref> Thus polyploidy is related to the phenomenon called "geographic parthenogenesis" by zoologist [Albert Vandel](/source/Albert_Vandel),<ref>{{citation |author=Vandel, A. |year=1928 |title=La parthénogenèse géographique: Contribution à l'étude biologique et cytologique de la parthénogenèse naturelle. I |journal=Bulletin Biologique de la France et de la Belgique |volume=62 |pages=164–281}}</ref> that asexual organisms often have greater geographic ranges than their sexual relatives. It is not known which of the associated factors is the major determiner of geographic parthenogenesis, [hybridization](/source/hybrid_(biology)), polyploidy, or asexual reproduction.<ref name=Horandl/>

==See also==
* [Species complex](/source/Species_complex)

==References==
<references/>

Category:Genetics
Category:Evolutionary biology

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Polyploid complex](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyploid_complex) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyploid_complex?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.