JUST speciation (essay)

Question 1

What is a species?

Answer 1

A basic unit of taxonomic classification.
Mayr (1942) - “Groups of actually or potentially interbreeding natural groups, which are reproductively isolated from other such groups.”

Question 2

What is speciation?

Answer 2

Not the process of natural/genetic. Underlying biogeographic processes of isolating barriers, preventing gene flow.

Question 3

What is allopatric speciation?

Answer 3

Also called geographic speciation, occurs when populations become isolated which disrupts gene flow (Cabej, Epigenetic Principles of Evolution - 2012.)
Allopatrically formed species are post zygotically isolated - even when they can interbreed they are incapable of producing a fertile, hybrid offspring.

Question 4

What is sympatric speciation?

Answer 4

Occurs when two groups of the same species live in the same geographic location, but they evolve differently until they can no longer interbreed and are considered different species. (Feder - 2002)

Question 5

What is peripatric speciation?

Answer 5

Similar to allopatric in which populations become isolated however, happens when one of the isolated populations has very few individuals. (Valtuena et al. 2017)

Question 6

What is parapatric speciation?

Answer 6

In parapatric speciation there is no specific extrinsic barrier to gene flow. The population is continuous, but nonetheless, the population does not mate randomly. Individuals are more likely to mate with their geographic neighbors than with individuals in a different part of the population’s range resulting in reduced gene flow. (Gao and Harris 2019)

Question 7

Give an example of Allopatric speciation

Answer 7

After the immersion of the Arizona Grand Canyon one species of Squirrel got seperated and now there are two different species in the north and south

Question 8

Give an example of Peripatric speciation

Answer 8

Several species of fruit flies on Hawaiian Archipelago have origins of a single common ancestor and evolved via adaptive radiation.

Question 9

Give an example of Parapatric speciation

Answer 9

Buffalo grass survives well on contaminated soil and poorly on non-contaminated soil, vice-versa for nearby species that grows away from mine tracks

Question 10

Give an example of Sympatric speciation

Answer 10

The apple maggot lays its eggs in apples rather than Hawthorne fruit due to the introduction of the apple tree in 19th century North America