Why are hybrids between species are often successful?

From EESwiki

Keywords: coexistence, competition, hybridization, hybrid fitness, parasites

Introduction: Natural hybridization, resulting in crosses between different species, is a common phenomenon in many natural Daphnia communities. Hybrids often coexist with parental taxa, but their relative abundance varies on the seasonal and yearly basis. This variation has been attributed to fluctuating environmental conditions such as: food quality, temperature and predation pressures. Depending of these conditions, hybrid fitness is though to be high or low. We will test whether parasites can promote the commonly observed dynamic coexistence.

Methods: laboratory experiment. Learnt skills: designing experiment, statistical analyses, scientific presentation and writing.