What actually causes two isolated populations of a species to become different?

Discover how Galapagos finches underwent adaptive radiation and aided Darwin in his theory of evolution

speciation, the formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution. Speciation involves the splitting of a single evolutionary lineage into two or more genetically independent lineages.

Study the unique evolution of species adaptions and biological diversity in the Galapagos Islands

In eukaryotic species—that is, those whose cells possess a clearly defined nucleus—two important processes occur during speciation: the splitting up of one gene pool into two or more separated gene pools (genetic separation) and the diversification of an array of observable physical characteristics (phenotypic differentiation) in a population (see population ecology). There are many hypotheses about how speciation starts, and they differ mainly in the role of geographic isolation and the origin of reproductive isolation (the prevention of two populations or more from interbreeding with one another).

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Allopatric speciation

Geographic isolation most often occurs with populations that are completely separated (allopatry) by a physical barrier, such as a mountain range, river, or desert. The separated populations adapt to their own unique environments, becoming so genetically different from one another that members of one population cannot breed with members of the other. Examples of allopatric speciation abound, and the process is considered the dominant form of speciation in organisms that engage in sexual reproduction. Darwin’s finches on the Galapagos Islands, which may have speciated allopatrically because of volcanic eruptions that divided populations, is a famous example.

Sympatric speciation

A controversial alternative to allopatric speciation is sympatric speciation, in which reproductive isolation occurs within a single population without geographic isolation. In general, when populations are physically separated, some reproductive isolation arises. How genetic divergence can happen within a population of individuals that are continually interacting with one another is usually difficult to explain. Examples of sympatric speciation are often disputed because they must show convincing evidence of species descending from the same ancestral species, the reproductive isolation of the group, and of allopatry not causing the speciation.

Nevertheless, sympatric speciation has been shown to have occurred in apple maggot flies (Rhagoletis pomonella), a parasitic insect that laid its eggs in the fruit of wild hawthorns (Crataegus) until one subset of the population began to lay its eggs in the fruit of domesticated apple trees (Malus domestica) that grew in the same area. That small group of apple maggot flies selected a different host species from the rest of its kind, and its offspring became accustomed to domesticated apples and later laid their own eggs in them, thereby cementing the shift in host.

Sympatric selection might also result from a combination of sexual selection and ecological factors. Studies of African cichlid fishes in Lake Nyasa and other lakes in the East African Rift System record so-called species flocks (individuals of the same species that “flock” together in one large assemblage) that have arisen in ecologically uniform lakes. Such a condition substantially reduces the chances of allopatry being the cause of speciation, and it may result in groups of females within a population developing a strong affinity for males with different extreme phenotypic traits, such as scale markings and limbs that differ in size from average individuals. Other studies suggest that sympatry among cichlid fishes also occurs in rivers feeding the East African Rift System lakes, as well as in Nicaragua’s crater lakes.

Why can isolation cause differences in species and possibly lead to a new species?

What causes two separate populations of the same species to become different species?