Module 11

First off I will start this discussion talking about my favorite plant species, the Ginkgo bilboa!! It is the last of its order and has the cutest little leaves! Its ancestors are so old that it has outlived the dinosaurs. Here are the Ginkgos pretty leaves. You have probably seen them all over campus at this time of year. 


Now back to the discussion.... whenever I think of speciation I think of how it is likely a long drawn out process that takes hundreds or more of years. But knowing that many species have very high reproductive rates, I imagine this initial thought is a bit naïve. There are many different modes of speciation definitions and between each one there is a different definition which could lead to a faster or slower speciation. Using the ecological species concept, speciation could happen much faster. This concept says that a species comes from a group that live in a specific niche. Just going off species being able to occupy a specific niche could allow for more species to inhabit this portion of the definition and allow for a faster speciation. The biological species concept is probably the best of the definitions because it explains what a species is in a natural context of what species could naturally interbreed and create viable offspring. 

Species could also develop at different rates due to nutritional needs, geographic isolation, topography and many more aspects. 

Comments

  1. Evolution: Haley JonesNovember 9, 2021 at 12:48 PM

    Hi Kate!
    I love those leaves I love that you shared your favorite plant. Thats pretty cool how they have lived so long! When I looked at this material I really examined how each species has different generation times and they they impacts the speciation process. I like how you discuss the way that a niche environment can induce speciation to occur. I would be curious to know if your Ginkgo bilboa has undergone speciation.

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  2. Dayton RainesNovember 15, 2021 at 7:41 PM

    Hi Kate,
    I also love ginkgos! Very awesome biologically and also just very cute and nice to look at. I love that you used them as an example, since they're so biologically "separate." Really seals in that idea of species being these reproductively finite units that have unique traits. With things that have more close relatives than ginkgos, though, I wonder how that impacts their biology and if they benefit from being able to hybridize or compete with similar species, unlike G. biloba?

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