Question

The arctic fox and gray fox evolved from the same species over thousands of years. can you place these steps in the process of allopatric speciation along the timeline?

Answer 1

Allopatric speciation, also referred to as geographic speciation, is a method of the formation of new species due to isolation of the species from one another through geographic means.

The first step in this process is geographic isolation, which means that the original population is divided into two groups due to geographical reasons such as movement of continents or formation of water bodies.

Next, the species are subjected to different selection pressures due to their different environments. Eventually, the gene pool becomes very different for the two species due to the different selection pressures and because they are not allowed to mix.

Finally, after enough time passes, speciation occurs, which means that the two populations cannot breed to form fertile offspring.