Speciation

• Which scientist nearly published his findings on speciation before Charles Darwin?

  Alfred Russel Wallace 
• What is a species?

  A species is a group of organisms that are able to interbreed and produce fertile offspring.
• One of the main ways new species arise is when populations become isolated from each other.
• Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, both proposed the theory of evolution by natural selection. 
• Explain how two different species of rabbit could have developed from a common ancestor.

  • Two populations became separated/isolation (by a geographical barrier like a river or mountain)
  • These populations had different gene pools / developed different mutations 
  • Each population was exposed to different environmental conditions (e.g. weather, water levels etc)
  • Natural selection occurs in the two populations which favours the alleles that best suit each environment
  • So the two populations become genetically different 
  • Eventually they cannot interbreed to produce fertile offspring