Imagine that you have a large interbreeding population of organisms that becomes
ID: 91966 • Letter: I
Question
Imagine that you have a large interbreeding population of organisms that becomes divided in two by a suddenly arising geographic barrier. Just after the barrier arises, would the Biological Species Concept treat the two sub-populations as a 2 species or just 1 species with two isolated populations?
A. 1 species with 2 isolated populations
B. 2 separate species.
C. Actually, the Biological Species Concept would treat this situation has 3 separate species: the original population and the 2 isolated subpopulations.
D. The Biological Species Concept does not provide a definitive answer to this question. It all depends on the personal interests of the scientist studying this population.
E. It depends on whether or not the clade in question is monophyletic.
Explanation / Answer
The biological species concept defines species as a group of populations whose members have the potential to interbreed in nature and produce viable, fertile offspring, but doesnot do so with members of other such groups.. It considers the two sub-populations as A. 1 species with 2 isolated populations.