Question

Will geographical isolation be a major factor in the speciation of an organism that reproduces asexually? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Speciation occurs when a group within a species separates from other members of its species and develops its own unique characteristics. Factors that lead to speciation include genetic drift, natural selection, geographical isolation, mutation.

Step by step answer: Asexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that does not involve the fusion of gametes or change in the number of chromosomes. The offspring that arise by asexual reproduction from a single cell or from a multicellular organism inherit the genes of that parent. In the case of an asexually reproducing organism, geographical isolation cannot be a major factor in speciation because meiosis does not take place during asexual reproduction. Asexual divide mitotically from their somatic cells. So geographic isolation of species cannot be a major factor in the speciation of an organism that reproduces asexually.

Additional information:
Scientists believe that geographic isolation is a common way for the process of speciation in sexual reproduction to begin: rivers change course, mountains rise, continents drift, organisms migrate, and a continuous population is divided into two or more smaller populations.

Note: Charles Darwin was the first to describe the role of natural selection in speciation in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species. 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. Speciation may also be induced artificially, through animal husbandry, agriculture, or laboratory experiments.