Module 11: Reflection


This weeks blog is all about species and the rate at which species evolve. The term species is a basic evolutionary unit.  It takes different amounts of time for a new species to form, and the speed is different for each type of species. I think that the speed of speciation does vary among different modes of speciation. Reproductive isolation tends to be a gradual process that occurs along the gradient. Reproductive isolation has multiple different mechanisms of how species evolve. The different mechanisms include pre-mating isolation, post-mating isolation/pre-zygotic isolation, and post-zygotic isolation. 

The Pre-mating isolation has reproductive barriers such as members from different populations not meeting, they are not compatible for mating, or they do not recognize each other. Post mating has reproductive barriers that could come from sperm competition, cryptic female choice, or gametic incompatibilities. Post-Zygotic isolation mechanisms could come from reduced hybrid fitness that could be caused by intrinsic and extrinsic factors. At the end of the day, there are clearly many different factors that could affect the speed of speciation, and all species have different rates depending on which factors effect them. 


Source:
https://www.k-state.edu/biology/p2e/speciation-1.html

Comments

  1. Kathryn14 November 2021 at 15:18

    I think there are many factors that alter the change and speciation of organisms, so I think it is good that you mainly focused on reproductive isolation. I think you had a lot to share and your thoughts were concise and intriguing. Great job!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Module 9: Great white sharks

Image
An organism that I have always been fascinated by is the great white shark. Don't get it twisted though, while I am fascinated I have always been scared of having an encounter when in the ocean. I have always been fascinated by these amazing creatures because of their size and power. Great white sharks usually grow to be an average of 15 feet long and 2.5 tons or greater. The really big great whites can even grow to be as long as 20 feet!! That's insane. Great white sharks mouths are lined with 300 serated, triangular teeth which are lined up in several rows. They even have organs that can detect electromagnetic fields generated by animals. Great white sharks have some amazing adaptations as well. Great whites boys have adapted into a torpedo shape in order to reduce the drag in the water. Great whites also have a fairly symmetrical body, and this is thought to allow them to move through what at a more efficient rate. Sources: https://oceantracks.org/library/spe...
Read more

Blog 14: Last blog

Image
I can't believe I am writing my last evolution blog post for the semester, because it has completely flown by! Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed this class and learned a lot about evolution over the semester. My perceptions about evolution have also changed over the semester because there is so much that I did not consider before this class. Evolution depends on so many different factors from geographic location, to fitness levels, to heritability and diversity. I have also realized that there are many unknowns in evolution and for some topics there is no exact answer of how some species have evolved. I have learned a lot about coding and how you can somewhat predict what will happen in the future based off of past evolutionary events. I have really enjoyed the layout of this class and the different interpretations that can be made about different aspects of evolution. A major take away that I have from evolution class is that it is important to think of many different aspects of ...
Read more