Incipient Allochronic Speciation Due To Non-Selective Assortative Mating By Flowering Time, Mutation, And Genetic Drift

Main Category: Biology / Biochemistry
Article Date: 13 Aug 2008 - 5:00 PDT

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Little doubt exists that species can originate from two geographically isolated populations; however, the origin of species within a common area - sympatric speciation - remains an outstanding issue for evolutionary biologists.

Previous work has focused on the power of natural and sexual selection at promoting sympatric speciation. In this paper, we develop a quantitative genetic model showing that, even in the absence of selective forces, a small population of plants can evolve into two species.

This occurs simply because the flowering time of individuals diverges through mutation and chance, and two plants can only reproduce when they flower simultaneously.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Proceedings B is the Royal Society's flagship biological research journal, dedicated to the rapid publication and broad dissemination of high-quality research papers, reviews and comment and reply papers. The scope of journal is diverse and is especially strong in organismal biology.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

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