Compilospecies

A compilospecies is a genetically aggressive species that acquires the heredity of a closely related species living in the same area through hybridization and extensive introgression, sometimes incorporating the other species so thoroughly that it drives it to extinction. The concept has mainly been applied to plants, and is associated with species found in newly disturbed habitats, with weeds, and with domestication; compilospecies can be diploid or polyploid, and sexual or largely asexual. One proposed explanation for a species with weak reproductive barriers and frequent introgression is that the practice increases genetic variation, since an enlarged gene pool from viable hybrids can produce new phenotypes and allow colonization of new habitats. The concept is not common in the scientific literature and, given limited supporting evidence, may not be fully accepted by the biological community as a genuine evolutionary process. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/