Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
A genetic isolate is a population of organisms that has little to no genetic mixing with other organisms of the same species due to geographic isolation or other factors that prevent reproduction. Genetic isolates form new species through an evolutionary process known as speciation. All modern species diversity is a product of genetic isolates ...
Allopatric speciation (from Ancient Greek ἄλλος (állos) 'other' and πατρίς (patrís) 'fatherland') – also referred to as geographic speciation, vicariant speciation, or its earlier name the dumbbell model [1]: 86 – is a mode of speciation that occurs when biological populations become geographically isolated from each other to an extent that prevents or interferes with gene flow.
A mode of speciation where the evolution of reproductive isolation is caused by the geographic separation of two or more populations of a single species. [5] allopatric taxa Specific species that are allopatrically distributed. allopatry The phenomenon by which two or more populations of a single species exist in geographic isolation from one ...
In ecotypes, it is common for continuous, gradual geographic variation to impose analogous phenotypic and genetic variation, a situation which leads to the emergence of clines. [1] A well-known example of a cline is the skin color gradation in indigenous human populations worldwide, which is related to latitude and amounts of sunlight.
There are four geographic modes of speciation in nature, based on the extent to which speciating populations are isolated from one another: allopatric, peripatric, parapatric, and sympatric. Whether genetic drift is a minor or major contributor to speciation is the subject of much ongoing discussion.
Ecological speciation caused by habitat isolation can occur in any geographic sense, that is, either allopatrically, parapatrically, or sympatrically. [4] Speciation arising by habitat isolation in allopatry (and parapatry) is straightforward in that reduced gene flow between two populations acquire adaptations that fit the ecological ...
The lack of geographic isolation as a definitive barrier between sympatric species has yielded controversy among ecologists, biologists, botanists, and zoologists regarding the validity of the term. As such, researchers have long debated the conditions under which sympatry truly applies, especially with respect to parasitism .
Mathematical models, laboratory studies, and observational evidence supports the existence of parapatric speciation's occurrence in nature. The qualities of parapatry imply a partial extrinsic barrier during divergence; [2] thus leading to a difficulty in determining whether this mode of speciation actually occurred, or if an alternative mode (notably, allopatric speciation) can explain the data.