Which of these events contributes most to the formation of new species?

Question

Which of these events contributes most to the formation of new species?

A. Adaptive isolation due to competition
B. Genetic isolation through polyploidy
C. Mate selection
D. Physical isolation of populations

Answer 1

A) The need to adapt in order to survive is the driving force behind evolution. Without competition for resources there would be no need to specialize to take advantage of a specific food source or habitat. This specialization over time is what leads to new species. For example...birds exhibit many types of beaks, some are good for eating seeds, some for prodding for insects and others still for catching fish. These adaptations where developed to take advantage of whatever food source or habitat was available to them. Even flowers have evolved to attract certain pollinators. Red flowers with a sweet smell usualy attract birds, white flowers attract bees and moths and purple flowers are preferred by butterlies. These adaptations help the flowers avoid competition and make sure there is no mix up when they are trying to cross-pollinate with other flowers of the same species! The ever changing world around us forces everything to adapt and therefore leads to more new species. :)

Answer 2

that is easily d. actual isolation is the only useful way of conserving a separate gene pool. Polyploidy does not continually reproductively isolate offspring. And mate determination and adaptive isolation the two contain geographic overlap, and together as they are going to reason speciation at last, actual isolation is the main drastic and hardship-loose type of speciation

Answer 3

I think it is d. Physical isolation would lead to separate evolution in two similar species such as isolated by a mountain or island species.

Answer 4

I'd say B. Polyploidy is "instant speciation."

Answer 5

d, think about deep sea fish versus fresh water or the galapogos islands...can't get much more physical than that.