speciation
Sympatric speciation While the logic and mechanisms of allopatric speciation are relatively easy to grasp we hope , there is a second type of speciation, known as sympatric speciation, which was originally more controversial. It occurs when a single population of organisms splits into two reproductively isolated communities within the same physical region. How could this possibly occur? What stop or inhibits the distinct sub-populations from inbreeding and reversing the effects of selection and nascent speciation? Recently a number of plausible mechanisms have been identified. One involves host selection.143 In host selection, animals such as insects that feed off specific hosts may find themselves reproducing in distinct zones associated with their hosts. For example, organisms that prefer blueberries will mate in a different place, time of day, or time of year than those that prefer raspberries. There are blueberry- and raspberry-specific niches. Through a process of disruptive selection see above , organisms that live primarily on a particular plant or part of a plant can be subject to different selective pressures, and reproductive isolation will enable the populations to more rapidly adapt. Mutations that reinforce an initial, perhaps weak, mating preference can lead reproductive isolation - this is a simple form of sexual selection which we will discuss soon .144 One population has become two distinct, reproductively independent populations, one species has become two.