Speciation refers to the process of origins for new species. With the process of forming a new species from a species that already exists, you are going to have two options. You will have allopatric speciation, or you will have sympatric speciation. Just by comparing these names, you can begin to imagine there are some significant differences between these possibilities.
In terms of the larger subject of speciation, there are indeed some notable distinctions that you will want to keep in mind.
What Are The Differences Between Allopatric And Sympatric Speciation
Allopatric speciation has the distinction of being the more common of the two. This is perhaps because its defining elements are considerably broader than what you generally have with sympatric speciation. Furthermore, the defining elements of allopatric speciation are certainly different in a number of ways from the defining elements of sympatric speciation.
For one thing, geographical barriers play a very important role in the process of allopatric speciation. Mountains, rivers, and other elements can create these barriers, which significantly reduces the odds of interbreeding occurring between the separated populations. Natural selection will now create mutations within each of the populations. These mutations allow for easy adaptation to the new environment. Reproductive isolation will eventually kick in, and the end result is going to be two distinctive species.
Sympatric speciation can be similar in certain regards, but it ultimately amounts to a substantially different speciation process. For one thing, your sympatric speciation scenario has to account for two or more species coming from a single ancestral source, with everything existing in the same geographical region. There is nothing in the way of geographical separation with sympatric speciation.
Polyploidy is a vital element to sympatric speciation. It is also amounts to a big difference between allopatric speciation and sympatric speciation. Diploid individuals and tetraploid individuals will not be able to interbreed. Reproductive isolation is not going to occur here, as it does with the process of allopatric speciation.
As you can imagine, sympatric speciation is a rather rare event, particularly when it is compared to allopatric speciation. Polyploidy is common with plants when compared to animals. You can look to plants that are capable of self-fertilization, if you want to deal in some actual examples of sympatric speciation. When it comes to examples of allopatric speciation, you are not going to have to travel very far at all, in order to find some meaningful examples to deepen your overall understanding.
