Question

How does the formation of a ring species lead to speciation in the absence of allopatry?

Answer 1

ANSWER

• Formation of ring species lead to speciation in the absence of allopatry
• The process by which a new species develops from the existing species is known as speciation
• Allopatric is the separation of species by a physical barrier.
• Ring species are two different species coexist in one region and connected by a long chain of interbreeding populations encircling a geographic barrier.
• A ring species is a connected series of neighboring populations which can only breed with nearby species and cannot breed with last species of the ring due to distance and time.
• Inter-breeding of nearby variant species leads to formation of new species ie, speciation.
• Allopatry is not an important factor for speciation.