speciation
Sign in to saveSpeciation is the evolutionary process by which populations evolve to become distinct species. The biologist Orator F. Cook coined the term in 1906 for cladogenesis, the splitting of lineages, as opposed to anagenesis, phyletic evolution within lineages. Charles Darwin was the first to describe the role of natural selection in speciation in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species. He also identified sexual selection as a likely mechanism, but found it problematic.
AI overview
Speciation is the evolutionary process where populations gradually change over time until they become distinct species—a concept that Charles Darwin first explained through natural selection in his 1859 book *On the Origin of Species*. Understanding speciation matters because it explains how Earth's enormous diversity of life forms originated and continues to develop, helping us comprehend the relationships between all living organisms.
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Article
26 sectionsContents
- Historical background
- Darwin's dilemma: why do species exist?
- Effect of sexual reproduction on species formation
- Modes
- Allopatric
- Peripatric
- Parapatric
- Sympatric
- Methods of selection
- Reinforcement
- Ecological
- Sexual selection
- Artificial speciation
- Genetics
- Species barriers
- Accumulation of species barriers
- Speciation via polyploidy
- Hybrid speciation
- Gene transposition
- Rates
- Punctuated evolution
- See also
- References
- Bibliography
- Further reading
- External links
Speciation is the evolutionary process by which populations evolve to become distinct species. The biologist Orator F. Cook coined the term in 1906 for cladogenesis, the splitting of lineages, as opposed to anagenesis, phyletic evolution within lineages. Charles Darwin was the first to describe the role of natural selection in speciation in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species. He also identified sexual selection as a likely mechanism, but found it problematic.
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.