Speciation#Genetics

{{main|History of speciation}}

In addressing the origin of species, there are two key issues:

1. the evolutionary mechanisms of speciation
2. how the separateness and individuality of species is maintained

Since Charles Darwin's time, efforts to understand the nature of species have primarily focused on the first aspect, and it is now widely agreed that the critical factor behind the origin of new species is reproductive isolation.{{harvnb|Mayr|1982|p=273}}

In On the Origin of Species (1859), Darwin interpreted biological evolution in terms of natural selection, but was perplexed by the clustering of organisms into species.{{harvnb|Darwin|1859}} Chapter 6 of Darwin's book is entitled "Difficulties of the Theory". In discussing these "difficulties" he noted

{{blockquote|Firstly, why, if species have descended from other species by insensibly fine gradations, do we not everywhere see innumerable transitional forms? Why is not all nature in confusion instead of the species being, as we see them, well defined?|On the Origin of Species (1859), chapter 6}}

This dilemma can be described as the absence or rarity of transitional varieties in habitat space.{{cite book |last=Sepkoski |first=David |title=Rereading the Fossil Record: The Growth of Paleobiology as an Evolutionary Discipline |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jNfJyXKSDRcC&pg=PA9 |date=2012 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-74858-0 |pages=9–50 |chapter=1. Darwin's Dilemma: Paleontology, the Fossil Record, and Evolutionary Theory |quote=One of his greatest anxieties was that the "incompleteness" of the fossil record would be used to criticize his theory: that the apparent "gaps" in fossil succession could be cited as negative evidence, at the very least, for his proposal that all organisms have descended by minute and gradual modifications from a common ancestor.}}

Another dilemma,{{cite journal |last1=Stower |first1=Hannah |title=Resolving Darwin's Dilemma |journal=Nature Reviews Genetics |date=2013 |volume=14 |issue=747 |pages=747 |doi=10.1038/nrg3614 |s2cid=45302603 |quote=The near-simultaneous appearance of most modern animal body plans in the Cambrian explosion suggests a brief interval of rapid phenotypic and genetic evolution, which Darwin believed were too fast to be explained by natural selection. |doi-access=free }} related to the first one, is the absence or rarity of transitional varieties in time. Darwin pointed out that by the theory of natural selection "innumerable transitional forms must have existed", and wondered "why do we not find them embedded in countless numbers in the crust of the earth". That clearly defined species actually do exist in nature in both space and time implies that some fundamental feature of natural selection operates to generate and maintain species.

It has been argued that the resolution of Darwin's first dilemma lies in the fact that out-crossing sexual reproduction has an intrinsic cost of rarity.{{cite journal |last1=Hopf |first1=Frederic A. |last2=Hopf |first2=F. W. |date=February 1985 |title=The role of the Allee effect in species packing |journal=Theoretical Population Biology |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=27–50 |doi=10.1016/0040-5809(85)90014-0|bibcode=1985TPBio..27...27H }}{{harvnb|Bernstein|Bernstein|1991}}{{harvnb|Michod|1995}}{{harvnb|Michod|1999}} The cost of rarity arises as follows. If, on a resource gradient, a large number of separate species evolve, each exquisitely adapted to a very narrow band on that gradient, each species will, of necessity, consist of very few members. Finding a mate under these circumstances may present difficulties when many of the individuals in the neighborhood belong to other species. Under these circumstances, if any species' population size happens, by chance, to increase (at the expense of one or other of its neighboring species, if the environment is saturated), this will immediately make it easier for its members to find sexual partners. The members of the neighboring species, whose population sizes have decreased, experience greater difficulty in finding mates, and therefore form pairs less frequently than the larger species. This has a snowball effect, with large species growing at the expense of the smaller, rarer species, eventually driving them to extinction. Eventually, only a few species remain, each distinctly different from the other. Rarity not only imposes the risk of failure to find a mate, but it may also incur indirect costs, such as the resources expended or risks taken to seek out a partner at low population densities.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

File:Flickr - Rainbirder - African pygmy-kingfisher (Ceyx pictus).jpg, showing coloration shared by all adults of that species to a high degree of fidelity.{{harvnb|Hockey|Dean|Ryan|2005|pp=176, 193}}]]

Rarity brings with it other costs. Rare and unusual features are very seldom advantageous. In most instances, they indicate a (non-silent) mutation, which is almost certain to be deleterious. It therefore behooves sexual creatures to avoid mates sporting rare or unusual features (koinophilia). Sexual populations therefore rapidly shed rare or peripheral phenotypic features, thus canalizing the entire external appearance, as illustrated in the accompanying image of the African pygmy kingfisher, Ispidina picta. This uniformity of all the adult members of a sexual species has stimulated the proliferation of field guides on birds, mammals, reptiles, insects, and many other taxa, in which a species can be described with a single illustration (or two, in the case of sexual dimorphism). Once a population has become as homogeneous in appearance as is typical of most species (and is illustrated in the photograph of the African pygmy kingfisher), its members will avoid mating with members of other populations that look different from themselves. Thus, the avoidance of mates displaying rare and unusual phenotypic features inevitably leads to reproductive isolation, one of the hallmarks of speciation.{{harvnb|Mayr|1988}}{{harvnb|Williams|1992|p=118}}

In the contrasting case of organisms that reproduce asexually, there is no cost of rarity; consequently, there are only benefits to fine-scale adaptation. Thus, asexual organisms very frequently show the continuous variation in form (often in many different directions) that Darwin expected evolution to produce, making their classification into "species" (more correctly, morphospecies) very difficult.{{cite journal |last1=Maynard Smith |first1=John |author-link=John Maynard Smith |date=December 1983 |title=The Genetics of Stasis and Punctuation |journal=Annual Review of Genetics |volume=17 |pages=11–25 |doi=10.1146/annurev.ge.17.120183.000303 |pmid=6364957|s2cid=3901837 |url=http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e479/e50bae660f043e7f6e5c1c91365776c17f72.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190305021759/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e479/e50bae660f043e7f6e5c1c91365776c17f72.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2019-03-05 }}{{harvnb|Clapham|Tutin|Warburg|1952}}{{harvnb|Grant|1971}}

File:Speciation modes.svg, peripatric, parapatric and sympatric speciation]]

All forms of natural speciation have taken place over the course of evolution; however, debate persists as to the relative importance of each mechanism in driving biodiversity.{{cite journal |last=Baker |first=Jason M. |date=June 2005 |title=Adaptive speciation: The role of natural selection in mechanisms of geographic and non-geographic speciation |journal=Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=303–326 |doi=10.1016/j.shpsc.2005.03.005 |pmid=19260194|s2cid=3555049 |url=http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/2331/1/baker-speciation-2005.pdf }}

One example of natural speciation is the diversity of the three-spined stickleback, a marine fish that, after the last glacial period, has undergone speciation into new freshwater colonies in isolated lakes and streams. Over an estimated 10,000 generations, the sticklebacks show structural differences that are greater than those seen between different genera of fish including variations in fins, changes in the number or size of their bony plates, variable jaw structure, and color differences.{{cite journal |last=Kingsley |first=David M. |date=January 2009 |title=Diversity Revealed: From Atoms to Traits |journal=Scientific American |volume=300 |issue=1 |pages=52–59 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0109-52|pmid=19186749 }}

{{Main|Allopatric speciation}}

During allopatric (from the ancient Greek allos, "other" + patrā, "fatherland") speciation, a population splits into two geographically isolated populations (for example, by habitat fragmentation due to geographical change such as mountain formation). The isolated populations then undergo genotypic or phenotypic divergence as: (a) they become subjected to dissimilar selective pressures; (b) different mutations arise in the two populations. When the populations come back into contact, they have evolved such that they are reproductively isolated and are no longer capable of exchanging genes. Island genetics is the term associated with the tendency of small, isolated genetic pools to produce unusual traits. Examples include insular dwarfism and the radical changes among certain famous island chains, for example on Komodo. The Galápagos Islands are particularly famous for their influence on Charles Darwin. During his five weeks there he heard that Galápagos tortoises could be identified by island, and noticed that finches differed from one island to another, but it was only nine months later that he speculated that such facts could show that species were changeable. When he returned to England, his speculation on evolution deepened after experts informed him that these were separate species, not just varieties, and famously that other differing Galápagos birds were all species of finches. Though the finches were less important for Darwin, more recent research has shown the birds now known as Darwin's finches to be a classic case of adaptive evolutionary radiation.{{cite journal |last=Sulloway |first=Frank J. |author-link=Frank Sulloway |date=September 30, 1982 |title=The Beagle collections of Darwin's finches (Geospizinae) |url=http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=text&itemID=A86&pageseq=1 |journal=Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Zoology |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=49–58}}

{{main|Peripatric speciation}}

In peripatric speciation, a subform of allopatric speciation, new species are formed in isolated, smaller peripheral populations that are prevented from exchanging genes with the main population. It is related to the concept of a founder effect, since small populations often undergo bottlenecks. Genetic drift is often proposed to play a significant role in peripatric speciation.{{sfn|Coyne|Orr|2004|p=105}}{{cite journal |title=Divergence at the edges: peripatric isolation in the montane spiny throated reed frog complex |author1=Lawson, Lucinda P. |author2=Bates, John M. |author3=Menegon, Michele |author4=Loader, Simon P. |journal=BMC Evolutionary Biology |year=2015 |volume=15 |issue=128 |pages=128 |doi=10.1186/s12862-015-0384-3 |pmid=26126573 |pmc=4487588 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2015BMCEE..15..128L }}

Case studies include Mayr's investigation of bird fauna;{{harvnb|Mayr|1992|pp=21–53}} the Australian bird Petroica multicolor;{{Cite book|last=Tokeshi|first=M.|year=1999 |title=Species coexistence: ecological and evolutionary perspectives|location=Oxford|publisher=Blackwell Science|isbn=0632061464|oclc=47011551}} and reproductive isolation in populations of Drosophila subject to population bottlenecking.{{citation needed|date=May 2018}}

{{Main|Parapatric speciation}}

In parapatric speciation, there is only partial separation of the zones of two diverging populations afforded by geography; individuals of each species may come in contact or cross habitats from time to time, but reduced fitness of the heterozygote leads to selection for behaviours or mechanisms that prevent their interbreeding. Parapatric speciation is modelled on continuous variation within a "single", connected habitat acting as a source of natural selection rather than the effects of isolation of habitats produced in peripatric and allopatric speciation.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/speciation-the-origin-of-new-species-26230527/|title=Speciation: The Origin of New Species {{!}} Learn Science at Scitable|website=Nature |language=en|access-date=2020-02-16}}

Parapatric speciation may be associated with differential landscape-dependent selection. Even if there is a gene flow between two populations, strong differential selection may impede assimilation and different species may eventually develop.{{harvnb|Endler|1977}} Habitat differences may be more important in the development of reproductive isolation than the isolation time. Caucasian rock lizards Darevskia rudis, D. valentini and D. portschinskii all hybridize with each other in their hybrid zone; however, hybridization is stronger between D. portschinskii and D. rudis, which separated earlier but live in similar habitats than between D. valentini and two other species, which separated later but live in climatically different habitats.{{cite journal |last1=Tarkhnishvili |first1=David |last2=Murtskhvaladze |first2=Marine |last3=Gavashelishvili |first3=Alexander |date=August 2013 |title=Speciation in Caucasian lizards: climatic dissimilarity of the habitats is more important than isolation time |journal=Biological Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=109 |issue=4 |pages=876–892 |doi=10.1111/bij.12092|doi-access=free }}

Ecologists refer to{{clarify|date=May 2018}} parapatric and peripatric speciation in terms of ecological niches. A niche must be available in order for a new species to be successful. Ring species such as Larus gulls have been claimed to illustrate speciation in progress, though the situation may be more complex.{{cite journal |last1=Liebers |first1=Dorit |last2=Knijff |first2=Peter de |last3=Helbig |first3=Andreas J. |title=The herring gull complex is not a ring species |journal=Proc Biol Sci |date=2004 |volume=271 |issue=1542 |pages=893–901 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2004.2679 |pmc=1691675 |pmid=15255043}} The grass Anthoxanthum odoratum may be starting parapatric speciation in areas of mine contamination.{{cite web |title=Parapatric speciation |url=http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/_0/speciationmodes_04 |publisher=University of California Berkeley |access-date=3 April 2017}}

{{Main|Sympatric speciation}}

File:Pundamilia (Haplochromis) nyererei male.jpgs such as Haplochromis nyererei diversified by sympatric speciation in the Rift Valley lakes.]]

Sympatric speciation is the formation of two or more descendant species from a single ancestral species all occupying the same geographic location.

Often-cited examples of sympatric speciation are found in insects that become dependent on different host plants in the same area.{{cite journal |last1=Feder |first1=Jeffrey L. |author2=Xianfa Xie |last3=Rull |first3=Juan |last4=Velez |first4=Sebastian |last5=Forbes |first5=Andrew |last6=Leung |first6=Brian |last7=Dambroski |first7=Hattie |last8=Filchak |first8=Kenneth E. |last9=Aluja |first9=Martin |display-authors=3 |date=May 3, 2005 |title=Mayr, Dobzhansky, and Bush and the complexities of sympatric speciation in Rhagoletis |journal=PNAS |volume=102 |issue=Suppl 1 |pages=6573–6580 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0502099102 |pmc=1131876 |pmid=15851672 |bibcode=2005PNAS..102.6573F |doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Berlocher |first1=Stewart H. |last2=Feder |first2=Jeffrey L. |date=January 2002 |title=Sympatric Speciation in Phytophagous Insects: Moving Beyond Controversy? |journal=Annual Review of Entomology |volume=47 |pages=773–815 |doi=10.1146/annurev.ento.47.091201.145312 |pmid=11729091|s2cid=9677456 }}

The best known example of sympatric speciation is that of the cichlids of East Africa inhabiting the Rift Valley lakes, particularly Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika. There are over 800 described species, and according to estimates, there could be well over 1,600 species in the region. Their evolution is cited as an example of both natural and sexual selection.{{cite journal |last1=Machado |first1=Heather E. |last2=Pollen |first2=Alexander A. |last3=Hofmann |first3=Hans A. |last4=Renn |first4=Suzy C. P. |display-authors=3 |date=December 2009 |title=Interspecific profiling of gene expression informed by comparative genomic hybridization: A review and a novel approach in African cichlid fishes |journal=Integrative and Comparative Biology |volume=49 |issue=6 |pages=644–659 |doi=10.1093/icb/icp080 |pmid=21665847|doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Fan |first1=Shaohua |last2=Elmer |first2=Kathryn R. |last3=Meyer |first3=Axel |author-link3=Axel Meyer |date=February 5, 2012 |title=Genomics of adaptation and speciation in cichlid fishes: recent advances and analyses in African and Neotropical lineages |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B |volume=367 |issue=1587 |pages=385–394 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2011.0247 |pmc=3233715 |pmid=22201168}} A 2008 study suggests that sympatric speciation has occurred in Tennessee cave salamanders.{{cite journal |last1=Niemiller |first1=Matthew L. |last2=Fitzpatrick |first2=Benjamin M. |last3=Miller |first3=Brian T. |date=May 2008 |title=Recent divergence with gene flow in Tennessee cave salamanders (Plethodontidae: Gyrinophilus) inferred from gene genealogies |journal=Molecular Ecology |volume=17 |issue=9 |pages=2258–2275 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-294X.2008.03750.x |pmid=18410292|s2cid=20761880 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2008MolEc..17.2258N }} Sympatric speciation driven by ecological factors may also account for the extraordinary diversity of crustaceans living in the depths of Siberia's Lake Baikal.{{cite journal |last1=Martens |first1=Koen |title=Speciation in ancient lakes |journal=Trends in Ecology & Evolution |date=May 1997 |volume=12 |issue=5 |pages=177–182 |doi=10.1016/S0169-5347(97)01039-2|pmid=21238028 |bibcode=1997TEcoE..12..177M }}

Budding speciation has been proposed as a particular form of sympatric speciation, whereby small groups of individuals become progressively more isolated from the ancestral stock by breeding preferentially with one another. This type of speciation would be driven by the conjunction of various advantages of inbreeding such as the expression of advantageous recessive phenotypes, reducing the recombination load, and reducing the cost of sex.{{cite journal |last1=Joly |first1=E. |title=The existence of species rests on a metastable equilibrium between inbreeding and outbreeding. An essay on the close relationship between speciation, inbreeding and recessive mutations |journal=Biology Direct |date=9 December 2011 |volume=6 |page=62 |pmid=22152499 |doi=10.1186/1745-6150-6-62|pmc=3275546 |doi-access=free }}

File:Rhagoletis pomonella.jpg, the hawthorn fly, appears to be in the process of sympatric speciation.]]

The hawthorn fly (Rhagoletis pomonella), also known as the apple maggot fly, appears to be undergoing sympatric speciation.{{cite journal |last1=Feder |first1=Jeffrey L. |last2=Roethele |first2=Joseph B. |last3=Filchak |first3=Kenneth |last4=Niedbalski |first4=Julie |last5=Romero-Severson |first5=Jeanne |display-authors=3 |date=March 2003 |title=Evidence for inversion polymorphism related to sympatric host race formation in the apple maggot fly, Rhagoletis pomonella |url=http://www.genetics.org/content/163/3/939.long |journal=Genetics |volume=163 |issue=3 |pages=939–953 |doi=10.1093/genetics/163.3.939 |pmc=1462491 |pmid=12663534 |access-date=2015-09-07}} Different populations of hawthorn fly feed on different fruits. A distinct population emerged in North America in the 19th century some time after apples, a non-native species, were introduced. This apple-feeding population normally feeds only on apples and not on the historically preferred fruit of hawthorns. The current hawthorn feeding population does not normally feed on apples. Some evidence, such as that six out of thirteen allozyme loci are different, that hawthorn flies mature later in the season and take longer to mature than apple flies; and that there is little evidence of interbreeding (researchers have documented a 4–6% hybridization rate) suggests that sympatric speciation is occurring.{{cite journal |last1=Berlocher |first1=Stewart H. |last2=Bush |first2=Guy L. |date=June 1982 |title=An electrophoretic analysis of Rhagoletis (Diptera: Tephritidae) phylogeny |journal=Systematic Zoology |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=136–155 |doi=10.2307/2413033 |jstor=2413033}}

File:Speciation by Reinforcement Schematic.svg against hybrids.]]

{{main|Reinforcement (speciation)}}

{{see|Evidence for speciation by reinforcement}}

Reinforcement, also called the Wallace effect, is the process by which natural selection increases reproductive isolation.{{cite web |url=http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/ridley/tutorials/Speciation15.asp |title=Speciation - What is the role of reinforcement in speciation? |last=Ridley |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Ridley (zoologist) |access-date=2015-09-07}} Adapted from Evolution (2004), 3rd edition (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing), {{ISBN|978-1-4051-0345-9}}. It may occur after two populations of the same species are separated and then come back into contact. If their reproductive isolation was complete, then they will have already developed into two separate incompatible species. If their reproductive isolation is incomplete, then further mating between the populations will produce hybrids, which may or may not be fertile. If the hybrids are infertile, or fertile but less fit than their ancestors, then there will be further reproductive isolation and speciation has essentially occurred, as in horses and donkeys.{{cite book |last=Sætre |first=Glenn-Peter |chapter=Reinforcement |title=eLS |date=2012 |doi=10.1002/9780470015902.a0001754.pub3 |isbn=978-0470016176 }}

One reasoning behind this is that if the parents of the hybrid offspring each have naturally selected traits for their own certain environments, the hybrid offspring will bear traits from both, therefore would not fit either ecological niche as well as either parent (ecological speciation). The low fitness of the hybrids would cause selection to favor assortative mating, which would control hybridization. This is sometimes called the Wallace effect after the evolutionary biologist Alfred Russel Wallace who suggested in the late 19th century that it might be an important factor in speciation.{{cite journal |last=Ollerton |first=Jeff |date=September 2005 |title=Speciation: Flowering time and the Wallace Effect |url=http://oldweb.northampton.ac.uk/aps/env/lbrg/journals/papers/OllertonHeredityCommentary2005.pdf |journal=Heredity |volume=95 |issue=3 |pages=181–182 |doi=10.1038/sj.hdy.6800718 |access-date=2015-09-07 |pmid=16077739 |s2cid=13300641 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070605063504/http://oldweb.northampton.ac.uk/aps/env/lbrg/journals/papers/OllertonHeredityCommentary2005.pdf |archive-date=2007-06-05}} Conversely, if the hybrid offspring are more fit than their ancestors, then the populations will merge back into the same species within the area they are in contact.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

Another important theoretical mechanism is the arise of intrinsic genetic incompatibilities, addressed in the Bateson-Dobzhansky-Muller model.{{Cite journal|last=Orr|first=H. A.|date=December 1996|title=Dobzhansky, Bateson, and the Genetics of Speciation|journal=Genetics|volume=144|issue=4|pages=1331–1335|doi=10.1093/genetics/144.4.1331|issn=0016-6731|pmc=1207686|pmid=8978022}} Genes from allopatric populations will have different evolutionary backgrounds and are never tested together until hybridization at secondary contact, when negative epistatic interactions will be exposed. In other words, new alleles will emerge in a population and only pass through selection if they work well together with other genes in the same population, but it may not be compatible with genes in an allopatric population, be those other newly derived alleles or retained ancestral alleles. This is only revealed through new hybridization.{{Cite journal|last=Presgraves|first=Daven C.|date=December 2010|title=Darwin and the Origin of Interspecific Genetic Incompatibilities|url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/657058|journal=The American Naturalist|language=en|volume=176|issue=S1|pages=S45–S60|doi=10.1086/657058|pmid=21043780|bibcode=2010ANat..176S..45P |s2cid=5592958|issn=0003-0147}} Such incompatibilities cause lower fitness in hybrids regardless of the ecological environment, and are thus intrinsic, although they can originate from the adaptation to different environments.{{Cite journal|last1=Kulmuni|first1=J.|last2=Westram|first2=A. M.|date=2017|title=Intrinsic incompatibilities evolving as a by-product of divergent ecological selection: Considering them in empirical studies on divergence with gene flow|journal=Molecular Ecology|language=en|volume=26|issue=12|pages=3093–3103|doi=10.1111/mec.14147|pmid=28423210|s2cid=41904934|issn=1365-294X|doi-access=free|bibcode=2017MolEc..26.3093K }} The accumulation of such incompatibilities increases faster and faster with time, creating a "snowball" effect.{{Cite journal|last=Orr|first=H A|date=1995-04-01|title=The population genetics of speciation: the evolution of hybrid incompatibilities.|url=https://academic.oup.com/genetics/article/139/4/1805/6013266|journal=Genetics|language=en|volume=139|issue=4|pages=1805–1813|doi=10.1093/genetics/139.4.1805|pmid=7789779|pmc=1206504|issn=1943-2631}} There is a large amount of evidence supporting this theory, primarily from laboratory populations such as Drosophila and Mus, and some genes involved in incompatibilities have been identified.

Reinforcement favoring reproductive isolation is required for both parapatric and sympatric speciation. Without reinforcement, the geographic area of contact between different forms of the same species, called their "hybrid zone", will not develop into a boundary between the different species. Hybrid zones are regions where diverged populations meet and interbreed. Hybrid offspring are common in these regions, which are usually created by diverged species coming into secondary contact. Without reinforcement, the two species would have uncontrollable inbreeding.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}} Reinforcement may be induced in artificial selection experiments as described below.

{{main|Ecological speciation}}

Ecological selection is "the interaction of individuals with their environment during resource acquisition".{{Citation | title=Ecological speciation| author=Howard D. Rundle and Patrik Nosil| journal=Ecology Letters| year=2005| volume=8| issue=3| pages=336–352| doi=10.1111/j.1461-0248.2004.00715.x| doi-access=free| bibcode=2005EcolL...8..336R}} Natural selection is inherently involved in the process of speciation, whereby, "under ecological speciation, populations in different environments, or populations exploiting different resources, experience contrasting natural selection pressures on the traits that directly or indirectly bring about the evolution of reproductive isolation".{{Citation | title=Ecology and the origin of species| author=Dolph Schluter| journal=Trends in Ecology and Evolution| year=2001| volume=16| issue=7| pages=372–380| doi=10.1016/S0169-5347(01)02198-X| pmid=11403870| s2cid=9845298}} Evidence for the role ecology plays in the process of speciation exists. Studies of stickleback populations support ecologically-linked speciation arising as a by-product,{{Citation | title=Evidence for ecology's role in speciation| author=Jeffrey S. McKinnon| journal=Nature| year=2004| volume=429| issue=6989| pages=294–298| doi=10.1038/nature02556 | pmid=15152252| bibcode=2004Natur.429..294M| s2cid=2744267|display-authors=etal}} alongside numerous studies of parallel speciation, where isolation evolves between independent populations of species adapting to contrasting environments than between independent populations adapting to similar environments.{{Citation | title=Evidence for Ecological Speciation and Its Alternative| author=Dolph Schluter| journal=Science| year=2009| volume=326| issue=5915| pages=737–740| doi=10.1126/science.1160006| pmid=19197053| bibcode=2009Sci...323..737S| s2cid=307207}} Ecological speciation occurs with much of the evidence, "...accumulated from top-down studies of adaptation and reproductive isolation".

Sexual selection can drive speciation in a clade, independently of natural selection.{{cite journal |last1=Panhuis |first1=Tami M. |last2=Butlin |first2=Roger |last3=Zuk |first3=Marlene |author-link3=Marlene Zuk |last4=Tregenza |first4=Tom |display-authors=3 |date=July 2001 |title=Sexual selection and speciation |url=http://www.selfishgene.org/Tom/Papers/TMPetal_TREE01.pdf |journal=Trends in Ecology & Evolution |volume=16 |issue=7 |pages=364–371 |pmid=11403869 |doi=10.1016/s0169-5347(01)02160-7}} However the term "speciation", in this context, tends to be used in two different, but not mutually exclusive senses. The first and most commonly used sense refers to the "birth" of new species. That is, the splitting of an existing species into two separate species, or the budding off of a new species from a parent species, both driven by a biological "fashion fad" (a preference for a feature, or features, in one or both sexes, that do not necessarily have any adaptive qualities).{{cite journal |last1=Darwin |first1=Charles |author2=A. R. Wallace |title=On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection |journal=Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London. Zoology |year=1858 |volume=3 |issue=9 |pages=46–50 |doi= 10.1111/j.1096-3642.1858.tb02500.x|doi-access=free |url=http://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/pdf/1858_species_F350.pdf}}{{sfn|Darwin|1859|loc=[http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=side&itemID=F373&pageseq=11 "IV. Natural Selection"]|p=89}}Eberhard, W. G. (1985). Sexual Selection and Animal Genitalia. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts In the second sense, "speciation" refers to the wide-spread tendency of sexual creatures to be grouped into clearly defined species,{{sfn|Gould|1980|loc="A Quahog is a Quahog"|pp=[https://archive.org/details/pandasthumb000step/page/204 204–213]}}{{harvnb|Maynard Smith|1989|pp=275–280}} rather than forming a continuum of phenotypes both in time and space – which would be the more obvious or logical consequence of natural selection. This was indeed recognized by Darwin as problematic, and included in his On the Origin of Species (1859), under the heading "Difficulties with the Theory". There are several suggestions as to how mate choice might play a significant role in resolving Darwin's dilemma.{{cite journal |last1=Bernstein |first1=Harris |last2=Byerly |first2=Henry C. |last3=Hopf |first3=Frederic A. |last4=Michod |first4=Richard E. |display-authors=3 |date=December 21, 1985 |title=Sex and the emergence of species |journal=Journal of Theoretical Biology |volume=117 |issue=4 |pages=665–690 |doi=10.1016/S0022-5193(85)80246-0 |pmid=4094459|bibcode=1985JThBi.117..665B }}{{cite journal |last=Koeslag |first=Johan H. |date=May 10, 1990 |title=Koinophilia groups sexual creatures into species, promotes stasis, and stabilizes social behaviour |journal=Journal of Theoretical Biology |volume=144 |issue=1 |pages=15–35 |doi= 10.1016/s0022-5193(05)80297-8 |issn=0022-5193 |pmid=2200930|bibcode=1990JThBi.144...15K }}{{cite journal |last=Koeslag |first=Johan H. |date=December 21, 1995 |title=On the Engine of Speciation |journal=Journal of Theoretical Biology |volume=177 |issue=4 |pages=401–409 |doi=10.1006/jtbi.1995.0256 |bibcode=1995JThBi.177..401K |issn=0022-5193}}{{cite journal |last1=Poelstra |first1=Jelmer W. |last2=Vijay |first2=Nagarjun |last3=Bossu |first3= Christen M. |last4=Lantz |first4=Henrik |last5=Ryll |first5=Bettina |last6=Müller |first6=Inge |last7=Baglione |first7=Vittorio |last8=Unneberg |first8=Per |last9=Wikelski |first9=Martin |last10=Grabherr |first10=Manfred G. |last11=Wolf |first11=Jochen B. W. |display-authors=3 |date=June 20, 2014 |title=The genomic landscape underlying phenotypic integrity in the face of gene flow in crows |journal=Science |volume=344 |issue=6190 |pages=1410–1414 |doi=10.1126/science.1253226 |pmid=24948738 |quote=The Phenotypic Differences between Carrion and Hooded Crows across the Hybridization Zone in Europe are Unlikely to be due to Assortative Mating.|url=http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:352-0-260687 |bibcode=2014Sci...344.1410P |s2cid=14431499 }} — Commentary by Mazhuvancherry K. Unnikrishnan and H. S. Akhila{{harvnb|Miller|2013|pp=177, 395–396}} If speciation takes place in the absence of natural selection, it might be referred to as nonecological speciation.{{Cite journal|last1=Rundell|first1=Rebecca J.|last2=Price|first2=Trevor D.|date=2009-07-01|title=Adaptive radiation, nonadaptive radiation, ecological speciation and nonecological speciation|url=https://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/abstract/S0169-5347(09)00126-8|journal=Trends in Ecology & Evolution|language=en|volume=24|issue=7|pages=394–399|doi=10.1016/j.tree.2009.02.007|issn=0169-5347|pmid=19409647|bibcode=2009TEcoE..24..394R }}{{Cite journal|last1=Czekanski-Moir|first1=Jesse E.|last2=Rundell|first2=Rebecca J.|date=2019-05-01|title=The Ecology of Nonecological Speciation and Nonadaptive Radiations|url=https://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/abstract/S0169-5347(19)30027-8|journal=Trends in Ecology & Evolution|language=en|volume=34|issue=5|pages=400–415|doi=10.1016/j.tree.2019.01.012|issn=0169-5347|pmid=30824193|bibcode=2019TEcoE..34..400C |s2cid=73494468}}

File:Indian Bison (Gaur) 1 by N. A. Naseer.jpg (Indian bison) can interbreed with domestic cattle.]]

File:Drosophila pseudoobscura-Male.png]]

{{see also|Laboratory experiments of speciation}}

New species have been created by animal husbandry, but the dates and methods of the initiation of such species are not clear. Often, the domestic counterpart can still interbreed and produce fertile offspring with its wild ancestor. This is the case with domestic cattle, which can be considered the same species as several varieties of wild ox, gaur, and yak; and with domestic sheep that can interbreed with the mouflon.{{harvnb|Nowak|1999}}{{cite journal |last1=Hiendleder |first1=Stefan |last2=Kaupe |first2=Bernhard |last3=Wassmuth |first3=Rudolf |last4=Janke |first4=Axel |display-authors=3 |date=May 7, 2002 |title=Molecular analysis of wild and domestic sheep questions current nomenclature and provides evidence for domestication from two different subspecies |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B |volume=269 |issue=1494 |pages=893–904 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2002.1975 |pmc=1690972 |pmid=12028771}}

The best-documented creations of new species in the laboratory were performed in the late 1980s. William R. Rice and George W. Salt bred Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies using a maze with three different choices of habitat such as light/dark and wet/dry. Each generation was placed into the maze, and the groups of flies that came out of two of the eight exits were set apart to breed with each other in their respective groups. After thirty-five generations, the two groups and their offspring were isolated reproductively because of their strong habitat preferences: they mated only within the areas they preferred, and so did not mate with flies that preferred the other areas.{{cite journal |last1=Rice |first1=William R. |last2=Salt |first2=George W. |date=June 1988 |title=Speciation Via Disruptive Selection on Habitat Preference: Experimental Evidence |journal=The American Naturalist |volume=131 |issue=6 |pages=911–917 |doi=10.1086/284831|bibcode=1988ANat..131..911R |s2cid=84876223 }} The history of such attempts is described by Rice and Elen E. Hostert (1993).{{cite journal |last1=Rice |first1=William R. |last2=Hostert |first2=Ellen E. |date=December 1993 |title=Laboratory Experiments on Speciation: What Have We Learned in 40 Years? |journal=Evolution |volume=47 |issue=6 |pages=1637–1653 |doi=10.2307/2410209 |jstor=2410209 |pmid=28568007}}{{cite journal |last=Gavrilets |first=Sergey |author-link1= Sergey Gavrilets |date=October 2003 |title=Perspective: Models of Speciation: What Have We Learned in 40 Years? |journal=Evolution | volume=57 |issue=10 |pages=2197–2215 |doi=10.1554/02-727 |pmid=14628909|s2cid=198158082 }}

Diane Dodd used a laboratory experiment to show how reproductive isolation can develop in Drosophila pseudoobscura fruit flies after several generations by placing them in different media, starch- and maltose-based media.{{cite journal |last=Dodd |first=Diane M. B. |date=September 1989 |title=Reproductive Isolation as a Consequence of Adaptive Divergence in Drosophila pseudoobscura |journal=Evolution |volume=43 |issue=6 |pages=1308–1311 |doi=10.2307/2409365 |pmid=28564510 |jstor=2409365}}

File:Drosophila speciation experiment.svg

Dodd's experiment has been replicated many times, including with other kinds of fruit flies and foods.{{cite journal |last1=Kirkpatrick |first1=Mark |last2=Ravigné |first2=Virginie |date=March 2002 |title=Speciation by Natural and Sexual Selection: Models and Experiments |journal=The American Naturalist |volume=159 |issue=S3 |pages=S22–S35 |doi=10.1086/338370 |issn=0003-0147 |pmid=18707367|bibcode=2002ANat..159S..22K |s2cid=16516804 }} Such rapid evolution of reproductive isolation may sometimes be a relic of infection by Wolbachia bacteria.{{cite journal |last1=Koukou |first1=Katerina |last2=Pavlikaki |first2=Haris |last3=Kilias |first3=George |last4=Werren |first4=John H. |last5=Bourtzis |first5=Kostas |last6=Alahiotis |first6=Stamatis N. |display-authors=3 |date=January 2006 |title=Influence of Antibiotic Treatment and Wolbachia Curing on Sexual Isolation Among Drosophila melanogaster Cage Populations |journal=Evolution |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=87–96 |doi=10.1554/05-374.1 |pmid=16568634|s2cid=198153238 }}

An alternative explanation is that these observations are consistent with sexually-reproducing animals being inherently reluctant to mate with individuals whose appearance or behavior is different from the norm. The risk that such deviations are due to heritable maladaptations is high. Thus, if an animal, unable to predict natural selection's future direction, is conditioned to produce the fittest offspring possible, it will avoid mates with unusual habits or features.{{harvnb|Symons|1979}}{{cite journal |last1=Langlois |first1=Judith H. |last2=Roggman |first2=Lori A. |date=March 1990 |title=Attractive Faces Are Only Average |journal=Psychological Science |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=115–121 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9280.1990.tb00079.x|s2cid=18557871 }} Sexual creatures then inevitably group themselves into reproductively isolated species.

Few speciation genes have been found. They usually involve the reinforcement process of late stages of speciation. In 2008, a speciation gene causing reproductive isolation was reported.{{cite journal |last1=Phadnis |first1=Nitin |last2=Orr |first2=H. Allen |author-link2=H. Allen Orr |date=January 16, 2009 |title=A Single Gene Causes Both Male Sterility and Segregation Distortion in Drosophila Hybrids |journal=Science |volume=323 |issue=5912 |pages=376–379 |doi=10.1126/science.1163934 |pmc=2628965 |pmid=19074311|bibcode=2009Sci...323..376P }} It causes hybrid sterility between related subspecies. The order of speciation of three groups from a common ancestor may be unclear or unknown; a collection of three such species is referred to as a "trichotomy".{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}

File:Polyploidization.svg cell undergoes failed meiosis, producing diploid gametes, which self-fertilize to produce a tetraploid zygote. In plants, this can effectively be a new species, reproductively isolated from its parents, and able to reproduce.]]

{{main|Polyploid}}

Polyploidy is a mechanism that has caused many rapid speciation events in sympatry because offspring of, for example, tetraploid x diploid matings often result in triploid sterile progeny.{{cite journal |last1=Ramsey |first1=Justin |last2=Schemske |first2=Douglas W. |date=November 1998 |title=Pathways, Mechanisms, and Rates of Polyploid Formation in Flowering Plants |journal=Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics |volume=29 |pages=467–501 |doi=10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.29.1.467|bibcode=1998AnRES..29..467R |s2cid=31637733 |url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4696/87a97276b274bba6469e7979dfc99a23e4cc.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608074533/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4696/87a97276b274bba6469e7979dfc99a23e4cc.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2020-06-08 }} However, among plants, not all polyploids are reproductively isolated from their parents, and gene flow may still occur, such as through triploid hybrid x diploid matings that produce tetraploids, or matings between meiotically unreduced gametes from diploids and gametes from tetraploids (see also hybrid speciation).{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}

It has been suggested that many of the existing plant and most animal species have undergone an event of polyploidization in their evolutionary history.{{cite journal |last1=Otto |first1=Sarah P. |author-link1=Sarah Otto |last2=Whitton |first2=Jeannette |date=December 2000 |title=Polyploid Incidence and Evolution |journal=Annual Review of Genetics |volume=34 |pages=401–437 |doi=10.1146/annurev.genet.34.1.401 |pmid=11092833|url=http://www.zoology.ubc.ca/~otto/Reprints/OttoWhitton2000.pdf |citeseerx=10.1.1.323.1059 }}{{cite journal |last1=Comai |first1=Luca |author-link1=Luca Comai |date=November 2005 |title=The advantages and disadvantages of being polyploid |journal=Nature Reviews Genetics |volume=6 |issue=11 |pages=836–846 |doi=10.1038/nrg1711 |pmid=16304599|s2cid=3329282 }} Reproduction of successful polyploid species is sometimes asexual, by parthenogenesis or apomixis, as for unknown reasons many asexual organisms are polyploid. Rare instances of polyploid mammals are known, but most often result in prenatal death. {{Cite journal |last1=Mezzasalma |first1=Marcello |last2=Brunelli |first2=Elvira |last3=Odierna |first3=Gaetano |last4=Guarino |first4=Fabio Maria |date=2023-03-12 |title=Evolutionary and Genomic Diversity of True Polyploidy in Tetrapods |journal=Animals |volume=13 |issue=6 |pages=1033 |doi=10.3390/ani13061033 |doi-access=free |issn=2076-2615 |pmid=36978574|pmc=10044425 }}

{{Main|Hybrid speciation}}

Hybridization between two different species sometimes leads to a distinct phenotype. This phenotype can also be fitter than the parental lineage and as such natural selection may then favor these individuals. Eventually, if reproductive isolation is achieved, it may lead to a separate species. However, reproductive isolation between hybrids and their parents is particularly difficult to achieve and thus hybrid speciation is considered an extremely rare event. The Mariana mallard is thought to have arisen from hybrid speciation.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}

Hybridization is an important means of speciation in plants, since polyploidy (having more than two copies of each chromosome) is tolerated in plants more readily than in animals.{{cite journal |last=Wendel |first=Jonathan F. |date=January 2000 |title=Genome evolution in polyploids |journal=Plant Molecular Biology |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=225–249 |doi=10.1023/A:1006392424384 |pmid=10688139|s2cid=14856314 }}{{cite journal |last1=Sémon |first1=Marie |last2=Wolfe |first2=Kenneth H. |date=December 2007 |title=Consequences of genome duplication |journal=Current Opinion in Genetics & Development |volume=17 |issue=6 |pages=505–512 |doi=10.1016/j.gde.2007.09.007 |pmid=18006297}} Polyploidy is important in hybrids as it allows reproduction, with the two different sets of chromosomes each being able to pair with an identical partner during meiosis. Polyploids also have more genetic diversity, which allows them to avoid inbreeding depression in small populations.{{cite journal |last1=Soltis |first1=Pamela S. |author-link1=Pamela S. Soltis |last2=Soltis |first2=Douglas E. |date=June 20, 2000 |title=The role of genetic and genomic attributes in the success of polyploids |journal=PNAS |volume=97 |issue=13 |pages=7051–7057 |doi=10.1073/pnas.97.13.7051 |pmc=34383 |pmid=10860970 |bibcode=2000PNAS...97.7051S|doi-access=free }}

Hybridization without change in chromosome number is called homoploid hybrid speciation. It is considered very rare but has been shown in Heliconius butterflies{{cite journal |last1=Mavarez |first1=Jesús |last2=Salazar |first2=Camilo A. |last3=Bermingham |first3=Eldredge |last4=Salcedo |first4=Christian |last5=Jiggins |first5=Chris D. |last6=Linares |first6=Mauricio |display-authors=3 |date=June 15, 2006 |title=Speciation by hybridization in Heliconius butterflies |journal=Nature |volume=441 |issue=7095 |pages=868–871 |doi=10.1038/nature04738 |pmid=16778888 |bibcode=2006Natur.441..868M|s2cid=2457445 }} and sunflowers. Polyploid speciation, which involves changes in chromosome number, is a more common phenomenon, especially in plant species. {{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}

{{Further|Transposable element}}

Theodosius Dobzhansky, who studied fruit flies in the early days of genetic research in 1930s, speculated that parts of chromosomes that switch from one location to another might cause a species to split into two different species. He mapped out how it might be possible for sections of chromosomes to relocate themselves in a genome. Those mobile sections can cause sterility in inter-species hybrids, which can act as a speciation pressure. In theory, his idea was sound, but scientists long debated whether it actually happened in nature. Eventually a competing theory involving the gradual accumulation of mutations was shown to occur in nature so often that geneticists largely dismissed the moving gene hypothesis.{{cite press release |last=Sherwood |first=Jonathan |date=September 8, 2006 |title=Genetic Surprise Confirms Neglected 70-Year-Old Evolutionary Theory |url=http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=2603 |publisher=University of Rochester |access-date=2015-09-10}} However, 2006 research shows that jumping of a gene from one chromosome to another can contribute to the birth of new species.{{cite journal |last1=Masly |first1=John P. |last2=Jones |first2=Corbin D. |last3=Mohamed |first3=A. F. Noor |author-link3=Mohamed Noor |last4=Locke |first4=John |last5=Orr |first5=H. Allen |display-authors=3 |date=September 8, 2006 |title=Gene Transposition as a Cause of Hybrid Sterility in Drosophila |journal=Science |volume=313 |issue=5792 |pages=1448–1450 |doi=10.1126/science.1128721 |pmid=16960009|bibcode=2006Sci...313.1448M |s2cid=23462115 }} This validates the reproductive isolation mechanism, a key component of speciation.{{cite journal |last=Minkel |first=J. R. |date=September 8, 2006 |title=Wandering Fly Gene Supports New Model of Speciation |url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/wandering-fly-gene-suppor/ |journal=Scientific American |access-date=2015-09-11}}

File:Punctuated-equilibrium.svg, above, consists of relatively slow change over geological time. Punctuated equilibrium, bottom, consists of morphological stability and rare, relatively rapid bursts of evolutionary change.]]

There is debate as to the rate at which speciation events occur over geologic time. While some evolutionary biologists claim that speciation events have remained relatively constant and gradual over time (known as "Phyletic gradualism" – see diagram), some palaeontologists such as Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould{{cite journal |last1=Gould |first1=Stephen Jay |last2=Eldredge |first2=Niles |author-link2=Niles Eldredge |date=Spring 1977 |title=Punctuated equilibria: the tempo and mode of evolution reconsidered |url=http://www.nileseldredge.com/pdf_files/Punctuated_Equilibria_Gould_Eldredge_1977.pdf |journal=Paleobiology |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=115–151 |jstor=2400177 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140624060126/http://www.nileseldredge.com/pdf_files/Punctuated_Equilibria_Gould_Eldredge_1977.pdf |archive-date=2014-06-24 |access-date=2015-09-15 |doi=10.1017/s0094837300005224|bibcode=1977Pbio....3..115G |s2cid=83492071 }} have argued that species usually remain unchanged over long stretches of time, and that speciation occurs only over relatively brief intervals, a view known as punctuated equilibrium. (See diagram, and Darwin's dilemma.) {{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}

{{Main|Punctuated equilibrium|Rate of evolution}}

Evolution can be extremely rapid, as shown in the creation of domesticated animals and plants in a very short geological space of time, spanning only a few tens of thousands of years. Maize (Zea mays), for instance, was created in Mexico in only a few thousand years, starting about 7,000 to 12,000 years ago.{{harvnb|Laws|2010|pp=210–215}} This raises the question of why the long term rate of evolution is far slower than is theoretically possible.{{harvnb|Williams|1992|loc=chpt. 9}}{{harvnb|Eldredge|Gould|1972|loc=[http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/ridley/classictexts/eldredge.asp chpt. 5]}}{{harvnb|Mayr|1954|pp=[https://www.blackwellpublishing.com/ridley/classictexts/mayr.asp 157–180]}}{{harvnb|Maynard Smith|1989|p=281}}

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Evolution is imposed on species or groups. It is not planned or striven for in some Lamarckist way.{{harvnb|Gould|1980|loc=[https://web.archive.org/web/20190509061859/http://www.stephenjaygould.org/library/gould_hopeful-monsters.html pt. 4, chpt. 18]}} The mutations on which the process depends are random events, and, except for the "silent mutations" which do not affect the functionality or appearance of the carrier, are thus usually disadvantageous, and their chance of proving to be useful in the future is vanishingly small. Therefore, while a species or group might benefit from being able to adapt to a new environment by accumulating a wide range of genetic variation, this is to the detriment of the individuals who have to carry these mutations until a small, unpredictable minority of them ultimately contributes to such an adaptation. Thus, the capability to evolve would require group selection, a concept discredited by (for example) George C. Williams,{{harvnb|Williams|1974}} John Maynard Smith{{cite journal |last=Maynard Smith |first=John |author-link=John Maynard Smith |date=March 14, 1964 |title=Group Selection and Kin Selection |journal=Nature |volume=201 |issue=4924 |pages=1145–1147 |doi=10.1038/2011145a0 |bibcode=1964Natur.201.1145S|s2cid=4177102 }} and Richard Dawkins{{harvnb|Dawkins|1995|loc=chpt. 4}}{{cite journal |last1=Dawkins |first1=Richard |author-link=Richard Dawkins |date=December 1994 |title=Burying the Vehicle |url=http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/dawkins/WorldOfDawkins-archive/Dawkins/Work/Articles/1994burying_the_vehicle.shtml |journal=Behavioral and Brain Sciences |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=616–617 |doi=10.1017/S0140525X00036207 |s2cid=143378724 |issn=0140-525X |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060915085010/http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/dawkins/WorldOfDawkins-archive/Dawkins/Work/Articles/1994burying_the_vehicle.shtml |archive-date=2006-09-15 |access-date=2015-09-15}} "Remarks on an earlier article by [Elliot] Sober [sic] and David Sloan Wilson, who made a more extended argument in their recent book Unto Others : The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior"{{cite journal |last=Dennett |first=Daniel C. |author-link=Daniel Dennett |date=December 1994 |title=E Pluribus Unum? |journal=Behavioral and Brain Sciences |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=617–618 |doi=10.1017/S0140525X00036219 |s2cid=146359497 |url=http://cogprints.org/281/0/wilsonso.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071227065311/http://cogprints.org/281/0/wilsonso.htm |archive-date=2007-12-27}} "Commentary on Wilson & Sober: Group Selection."{{cite web |last=Pinker |first=Steven |date=June 18, 2012 |url=http://edge.org/conversation/the-false-allure-of-group-selection |title=The False Allure of Group Selection |author-link=Steven Pinker |website=edge.org |publisher=Edge Foundation, Inc. |access-date=2015-09-15}} as selectively disadvantageous to the individual.

The resolution to Darwin's second dilemma might thus come about as follows:

If sexual individuals are disadvantaged by passing mutations on to their offspring, they will avoid mutant mates with strange or unusual characteristics. Mutations that affect the external appearance of their carriers will then rarely be passed on to the next and subsequent generations. They would therefore seldom be tested by natural selection. Evolution is, therefore, effectively halted or slowed down considerably. The only mutations that can accumulate in a population, on this punctuated equilibrium view, are ones that have no noticeable effect on the outward appearance and functionality of their bearers (i.e., they are "silent" or "neutral mutations", which can be, and are, used to trace the relatedness and age of populations and species.{{harvnb|Campbell|1990|pp=450–451, 487–490, 499–501}})

This argument implies that evolution can only occur if mutant mates cannot be avoided, as a result of a severe scarcity of potential mates. This is most likely to occur in small, isolated communities. These occur most commonly on small islands, in remote valleys, lakes, river systems, or caves,{{harvnb|Ayala|1982|pp=73–83, 182–190, 198–215}} or during the aftermath of a mass extinction. Under these circumstances, not only is the choice of mates severely restricted but population bottlenecks, founder effects, genetic drift and inbreeding cause rapid, random changes in the isolated population's genetic composition. Furthermore, hybridization with a related species trapped in the same isolate might introduce additional genetic changes. If an isolated population such as this survives its genetic upheavals, and subsequently expands into an unoccupied niche, or into a niche in which it has an advantage over its competitors, a new species, or subspecies, will have come into being. In geological terms, this will be an abrupt event. A resumption of avoiding mutant mates will thereafter result, once again, in evolutionary stagnation.

In apparent confirmation of this punctuated equilibrium view of evolution, the fossil record of an evolutionary progression typically consists of species that suddenly appear, and ultimately disappear, hundreds of thousands or millions of years later, without any change in external appearance.{{harvnb|McCarthy|Rubidge|2005}} Graphically, these fossil species are represented by lines parallel with the time axis, whose lengths depict how long each of them existed. The fact that the lines remain parallel with the time axis illustrates the unchanging appearance of each of the fossil species depicted on the graph. During each species' existence new species appear at random intervals, each also lasting many hundreds of thousands of years before disappearing without a change in appearance. The exact relatedness of these concurrent species is generally impossible to determine. This is illustrated in the diagram depicting the distribution of hominin species through time since the hominins separated from the line that led to the evolution of their closest living primate relatives, the chimpanzees.

For similar evolutionary time lines see, for instance, the paleontological list of African dinosaurs, Asian dinosaurs, the Lampriformes and Amiiformes. {{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}

{{Div col|colwidth=18em}}

• Bateson–Dobzhansky–Muller model
• Chronospecies
• Court jester hypothesis
• Macroevolution
• Selection (genetic algorithm)
• Species problem

{{div col end}}

{{clear}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Refbegin|30em}}

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{{Refend}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{cite book |last=Gavrilets |first=S. |author-link1= Sergey Gavrilets |title=Fitness Landscapes and the Origin of Species |year=2004 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0691119830 |ref=none}}
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• {{cite encyclopedia |last=Marko |first=Peter B. |editor1-last=Jørgensen |editor1-first=Sven Erik |editor1-link=Sven Erik Jørgensen |editor2-last=Fath |editor2-first=Brian |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Ecology |title=Allopatry |edition=1st |year=2008 |publisher=Elsevier |volume=1, A-C |location=Oxford, UK |isbn=978-0-444-52033-3 |lccn=2008923435 |oclc=173240026 |pages=131–138 |ref=none}}
• {{cite book |last1=Mayr |first1=Ernst |author-link=Ernst Mayr |year=1963 |title=Animal Species and Evolution |url=https://archive.org/details/animalspeciesevo00mayr |url-access=registration |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-03750-2 |lccn=63009552 |oclc=899044868 |ref=none}}
• {{cite book |last=Schilthuizen |first=Menno |author-link=Menno Schilthuizen |year=2001 |title=Frogs, Flies, and Dandelions: The Making of Species |location=Oxford; New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-850393-4 |lccn=2001270180 |oclc=46729094 |url=https://archive.org/details/frogsfliesdandel00schi |ref=none}}
• {{cite journal | title=What is Speciation? | author1=Shapiro, J. B. |author2=Leducq, J-B. |author3=Mallet, J. |author3-link=James Mallet | journal=PLOS Genetics | year=2016 | volume=12 | issue=3 | pages= e1005860| doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1005860 | pmid=27030977 | pmc=4816541 |ref=none | doi-access=free }}
• {{cite book |last=White |first=Michael J. D. |author-link=Michael J. D. White |year=1978 |title=Modes of Speciation |series=A Series of Books in Biology |location=San Francisco, CA |publisher=W. H. Freeman and Company |isbn=978-0-7167-0284-9 |lccn=77010955 |oclc=3203453 |url=https://archive.org/details/modesofspeciatio00whit }}

{{Refend}}

{{Commons category|Speciation}}

• {{cite web |url=http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-speciation.html |title=Observed Instances of Speciation |last=Boxhorn |first=Joseph |date=September 1, 1995 |website=TalkOrigins Archive |publisher=The TalkOrigins Foundation, Inc. |location=Houston, TX}}
• {{cite news |url=http://johnhawks.net/weblog/topics/phylogeny/speciation.html |title=Speciation |last=Hawks |first=John D. |author-link=John D. Hawks |date=February 9, 2005 |website=John Hawks Weblog}}
• {{cite web |url=http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/evo_40 |title=Speciation |date=13 March 2021 |publisher=University of California, Berkeley}}

{{Speciation}}

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Category:Ecology

Category:Evolutionary biology

Category:Sexual selection