What is Speciation?
Last Updated :
27 Sep, 2022
Evolution is the process by which nature gets a new species. Through the evolution process from the ancestor, the new species takes place. This is a long process. Evolution is a continuous process. It lasts for millions of years. After the creation of the new species, Evolution still works. The main purpose of Evolution is to create a new species in such a way that it can able to survive in nature. That is why the Evolution process is a never-ending one. Many subprocesses trigger the Evolution process and help to create new species. The creation of a new species with the help of the Evolution process or without taking the help of the Evolution process is known as Speciation.
What Is Speciation?
Evolution is the process that triggers the creation of new species. The process by which a new species is created is known as Speciation. The process can be started by a natural process like Evolution. Or Speciation can be started by an artificial process like Hybridization. Creating a new species from the existing species in any form is known as the speciation process. Nature is the main driving force here. Naturally, species want to survive in nature. As they want to survive in nature, they try their best to acquire some new traits into them. This leads to a change in the genetic structure of the species. And day by day, these changes form a prominent figure. These changes will inherit by the next generation.
Through the inheritance process, those changes will be in every generation. In this way, a new species is being developed. Also sometimes, Scientists artificially develop a new species from the existing species. The new species will be able to interbreed & reproduce new offspring. By any means or form, creating a species is known as the Speciation process.
Characteristics
- The species which will develop by the Speciation process must be a new species. The species should have distinct new features from the ancestors.
- The new species should have some uniqueness in the genetic structure. The genetic structure should be different from the ancestors.
- The new species should not breed with their ancestors. This means the new species should be reproductively isolated from the ancestor species.
Reason Behind Speciation
Mainly the speciation process occurs in nature in two ways. One is the natural process like Evolution. Another is the artificial process like Hybridization.
Natural Reason (Change In Habitat)
In the Evolution process, it is very often noticed that, due to some natural problem, a group of species move to a new habitat. Or sometimes, it may happen that due to a shortage of food, species shift to take new types of food. All of these changes are triggered by the nature. So, natural selection is another driving force behind Speciation.
Sometimes, due to a shortage of food or any other reason, a group of creatures in a certain species moves to another habitat. There they try to grow up in different habitats. So, their anatomical structure will be different from the existing species. Thus, in two distinct habitats, two groups of creatures of the same species develop in different ways. In this way, Speciation is completed by creating two new species.
Artificial Reason (Hybridization)
It is the process by which Scientists develop a new species from the existing species. It is the artificial method. This takes a small time compared to the Evolution process. Due to some experiments, scientists need to develop a new species. In this case, also Speciation helps to develop a new species. But sometimes developed animal species live very small time. Like scientists develop a new species called Liger. It is developed with the genetic interaction between a Lion & a Tiger.
Types Of Speciation
![Speciation](https://media.geeksforgeeks.org/wp-content/uploads/20220915100638/Speciation.png)
- Allopatric Speciation: In this type of Speciation, a physical barrier is developed between the existing species. Like, due to the presence of a predator, or due to natural calamity, the species can’t able to come close & develop together. This type of Speciation is mainly made forcefully.
- Parapatric Speciation: In this type of Speciation, one group of creatures decides to move to a new habitat. There they developed in the process. And the existing group of creatures starts to develop in another completely changed atmosphere. This tends to develop two new species from the existing one. In this way, due to changes in habitat, a new species is being developed.
- Peripatric Speciation: This type of Speciation is similar to the Allopatric speciation. The main difference is that there is no barrier present between the two species. They used to stay in different locations. As a result, two new species developed. Though there is no barrier present between those two species. But they don’t even change the genomic structure in between them. This type of Speciation is nearly situated in between the Allopatric & Parapatric Speciation. Like Parapatric Speciation, they don’t move to extremely different habitats to grow up.
- Sympatric Speciation: This type of Speciation is very interesting. Here, in this type of Speciation, two species never moved to a different location. They used to stay in the same location. But for any reason, they never interbreed among themselves. They try to live in a different format by staying in the same geographic location. That is why, in this case, Speciation will happen without changing the habitat or without creating a barrier.
Importance
Speciation is the most important process. It is the process by which new species are developed. Without the new species, nature will be a place where no species will be alive. It is necessary to grow & develop with time. If the species can’t able to develop itself, it will gradually disappear. In this way, if every species gets disappeared from nature, it will be very difficult to find out the earth today. Speciation is the driving force. New species come into nature it gets developed & stronger day by day. Hence it helps to develop the earth.
Example Of Speciation
Speciation is a very prominent process. Every creature in nature is the result of the Speciation process. Every animal & tree comes from any of their ancestors through the process of Speciation.
- Human Evolution: Human Evolution is the most important example of Speciation. This is the process where we can able to see every type of Speciation. Human Evolution is a large process & takes millions of years to appear in the modern human. In this long journey, there is an example of every type of Speciation. From the ancestor human species, the new human species is being developed through the genetic transformation process.
- Darwin Finches: Finch is a type of bird found on the Galapagos Island. Evolutionist Darwin visited the island & found that there are many species which is the subspecies of the Finch. He divided the species based on the beak of the species. Some species have the beak to eat an insect, some have a beak to eat fruits, etc. So, Darwin concluded that this is the result of Speciation by which different types of Finch species developed.
- Canyon Squirrel: In the Grand Canyon there are two types of Squirrel species available. One is called the Kaibab Squirrel & another is the Albert’s Squirrel. Due to the formation of the Grand Canyon, there was a barrier between the two species. Hence, the process of Speciation happened here. This is an example of Allopatric Speciation.
- Larus Gulls: There are mainly two types of Gulls present. One is the Herring Gulls & another is the Lesser Back Gull. This type of Speciation happened due to changes in the habitat. This is an example of Parapatric Speciation.
FAQs on Speciation
Question 1: Which type of evolution mostly helps the Speciation process?
Answer:
Scientists believe that the Divergent Evolution process helps most in the Speciation process. As Divergent Evolution is often noticed in nature. Also, with the help of the Divergent Evolution, two or more species can develop from the existing ancestor. So, Divergent Evolution is a significant influencer for the Speciation process.
Question 2: How the Isolation process helps the process of Speciation?
Answer:
Isolation is the process by which a group of creatures lives in a different location. This helps to grow that group in their way. This helps to interbreed them into that group only. That is why gene transfer or gene mutation can only be made individually. Thus, Isolation plays the first role in starting the Speciation process.
Question 3: What is Rapid Speciation?
Answer:
Rapid Speciation is the process by which a new species can develop within a short period. This process can be visualized when scientists perform Artificial Speciation. In some processes, Speciation can be visualized in the next generation itself.
Question 4: Approximately in how many generations a new species can take place?
Answer:
Scientists believe that in the Artificial Speciation process, a new species can develop within the second or third generation. But in the case of Natural Speciation, new species take place in the fifth generation. These are the approx. value made by the scientists.
Question 5: Does Natural Selection helps the process of Speciation?
Answer:
Yes! Natural Selection is the backbone of Speciation. For nature, the species try to incur new traits. As they want to survive in nature, it is obvious to develop new characteristics with the changing nature. The species which can’t able to develop a new trait will gradually disappear.
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