ASSIGNMENT

Evolutionary Biology

Submitted to: Dr. Mahendra Pratap

Submitted by: Charudutt Poonia
Ans1)
Allopatric comes from the Greek words allos meaning
“other” and patris which means “fatherland.” Allopatric
speciation occurs when a population of organisms becomes
separated or isolated from their main group. Over time,
the allele frequency in the new group, which used to be
homogenous across the individuals, becomes subject to
changes via natural selection due to of pressure from
differences in predators, climate, competitors and resources.
Populations can become isolated for a variety of reasons.
Some examples are changes in land topography resulting
from earthquakes, seeds dispersed by the wind and carried
away in rivers, flooding, migration and erosion. Two
examples of allopatric speciation are Darwin’s Finches and
populations of squirrels in the Grand Canyon. Research has
shown that the greater the distance of separation, the
greater the odds that speciation will occur.
Meanwhile the term sympatric comes from the English
prefix sym- meaning “same” or “together” and the Greek
word patris which means “fatherland.” In this, speciation
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. It
is different from other types of speciation, which involve the
formation of a new species when a population is split into
groups via a geographic barrier or migration. Sympatric
speciation can be seen in many different types of organisms
including bacteria, cichlid fish, and the apple maggot fly, but
it can be difficult to tell when sympatric speciation is
occurring or has occurred in nature. The main mechanisms
resulting in sympatric speciation involve changes in the
chromosomes of the organism. One way this happens is
when there is a serious error that occurs during cell
division resulting in more than one copy of a chromosome(s),
or the loss of a chromosome(s), in one of the daughter cells.
This condition is known as aneuploidy and there are two
main kinds:
Autopolyploidy
In this situation, an organism has two or more sets of
chromosomes of their own species. This normally happens in
plants and results from all the chromosomes moving to one
of the daughter cells during meiosis. When this happens, the
resulting gametes will not be compatible for reproduction
with those of either parent. However, the organism can self-
pollinate or reproduce with another organism like itself that
has the same number of chromosome pairs.
Allopolyploidy
The allopolyploidy form of sympatric speciation is created
when two different species mate and create an offspring. The
resulting gametes of the first-generation offspring must
combine with normal gametes from one of the two original
species to form viable offspring. The history of nearly 50% of
all plant species can be traced back to a polyploid species.
Examples of these are cultivated tobacco, cotton and wheat.

Ans2)
Plant Speciation
The definition of a species in plants has been a major
impediment to botanical studies of speciation; botanists have
often expressed doubt that plant species even exist, because
of frequent reports of interspecific hybrids and because
phenotypic variation in some plant groups does not assort
readily into discrete categories. These concerns were
amplified by claims that gene flow within many plant species
was so low that populations rather than species were the
most inclusive reproductive units.
In terms of reproduction, plants have a lot more options than
animals do. Many plants can reproduce sexually, by fertilizing
other individuals or themselves, and asexually, by creating
clones of themselves through vegetative reproduction, while
most animals only reproduce sexually. Two modes of
speciation are particularly common in plants:

• Speciation by hybridization: For example, when Loren

Rieseberg and coworkers reconstructed the phylogeny
of several sunflower species, they found that several
species had been formed by fertilizations between other
species. Often the hybrid offspring of such fertilizations
are sterile, but occasionally they are fertile and are
reproductively isolated from their "parent" species. In
the latter case, a new species is formed.

The sunflower species Helianthus anomalus was produced by

the hybridization of two other sunflower species.

• Speciation by ploidy changes: In terms of plant

speciation, a ploidy change generally means multiplying
the number of chromosomes the species has by some
number. So a species that normally has 18
chromosomes might produce a lineage that has 36 or 54
chromosomes. Ploidy changes are common in plants
and often produce a species that is reproductively
isolated and distinct from the "parent" species. For
example, speciation in these anemones involved a
ploidy change.
Here we see two species of anemone flower and their
chromosomes. Changes in number of chromosomes, as
has occurred in this genus, can cause speciation.

Animal Speciation

Galápagos finch
An example of Animal speciation is the Galápagos finch.
Different species of these birds live on different islands in the
Galápagos archipelago, located in the Pacific Ocean off South
America. The finches are isolated from one another by the
ocean. Over millions of years, each species of finch
developed a unique beak that is especially adapted to the
kinds of food it eats. Some finches have large, blunt beaks
that can crack the hard shells of nuts and seeds. Other
finches have long, thin beaks that can probe into cactus
flowers without the bird being poked by the cactus spines.
Still other finches have medium-size beaks that can catch and
grasp insects. Because they are isolated, the birds
don’t breed with one another and have therefore developed
into unique species with unique characteristics. This is
called allopatric speciation.
Grand Canyon Squirrels

When the Grand Canyon was formed, it created a natural

barrier between the squirrels living in the area. About 10,000
years ago, the squirrel population was separated from each
other by this geographic change and could no longer live in
the same area. Over thousands of years, the divided squirrel
populations became two different species. Kaibab squirrels
live on the north rim of the canyon and have a small range,
while Abert squirrels live on the south rim and live in a much
larger range. Members of these two species have a similar
size, shape, and diet, and slight color differences, but they
are no longer in contact with each other and have become so
different during their separation that they are now separate
species.

Apple Maggot Flies

An extremely recent example of sympatric speciation may be
occurring in the apple maggot fly, Rhagoletis pomonella.
Apple maggot flies used to lay their eggs only on the fruit of
hawthorn trees, but less than 200 years ago, some apple
maggot flies began to lay their eggs on apples instead. Now
there are two groups of apple maggot flies: one that lays
eggs on hawthorns and one that lays eggs on apples. Males
look for mates on the same type of fruit that they grew on,
and females lay their eggs on the same type of fruit that they
grew up on. Therefore, flies that grew up on hawthorns will
raise offspring on hawthorns, and flies that grew up on
apples will raise offspring on apples. There are already
genetic differences between the two groups, and over a long
period of time, they could become separate species. This
shows how speciation can occur even when different
subgroups of the same species have the same geographic
range.