Speciation

• Evolution is the change of inherited characteristics within a population over time through natural selection, which may result in the formation of a new species
• Speciation is the formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution
• A species is a group of organisms able to interbreed and produce fertile offspring
• New species can arise as a result of genetic variation, natural selection, and speciation
• Isolation can lead to speciation by preventing interbreeding and allowing different mutations to create different phenotypes within isolated groups
• Charles Darwin described the speciation of finches on the Galapágos Islands, where the finches had wide variations in size, beaks, and claws depending on the local food source
• Darwin concluded that the finches had changed over time due to the distant location of the islands from the mainland
• Speciation is the formation of two or more species from the original species