Development and Understanding of Evolution - Theory of Speciation (GCSE Biology)

Theory of Speciation

Speciation

Darwin was in competition with another scientist. This was Alfred Richard Wallace. He independently published his own theories regarding natural selection and evolution. However, he is most famed for his ideas on speciation.

• Wallace prompted Darwin. Wallace proposed a theory of natural selection at the same time as Darwin. This led to Darwin rising to the competition and publishing his own paper, On the Origin of Species the next year.
• Wallace also worked on speciation. Wallace spent a lot of time looking into speciation, however we have built on these ideas over time to form a concrete theory of speciation.

Theory of Speciation

Natural selection can lead to formation of a new species if there is a split in the population.

For example, geographical isolation could separate two populations of monkeys over two islands.

A mutation in one monkey (grey) can help improve ability to climb trees and reach food.

This mutation spreads via natural selection to the other monkeys on the same island. There is a reproductive barrier (the river) between both populations, so the mutation doesn’t spread to the other monkeys.

Over time, the two populations become so different that they can no longer breed together – two different species are formed.

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Impact of the Theories on Modern Biology

The theories of evolution and speciation have impacted modern biology in many ways:

• Classifying organisms. We can now organise and classify organisms based on how they evolved and their evolutionary relationships.
• Conserving organisms. We can now understand how important genetic variation is in survival and allowing organisms to adapt to their environments. Hence, we can save species and conserve organisms with the help of conservation projects. For example, seedbanks can store seeds of plants from different species. Hence, they conserve their genetic information and their different characteristics.