Adaptive radiations on archipelagos (island chains) represent some of the best-understood speciation events. Why is an ancestral species more likely to give rise to multiple descendent species on an archipelago than on an equal-sized area of mainland? A) Favorable mutations are more likely to arise on an archipelago as populations try to adapt to conditions on their specific island. B) By chance, different species will colonize different islands in a chain. C) Populations on nearby islands are more likely to be genetically isolated than populations that are equally close to one another on the mainland.

Question

Pamela Burnett

Biology

6 April, 16:53

Adaptive radiations on archipelagos (island chains) represent some of the best-understood speciation events. Why is an ancestral species more likely to give rise to multiple descendent species on an archipelago than on an equal-sized area of mainland? A) Favorable mutations are more likely to arise on an archipelago as populations try to adapt to conditions on their specific island. B) By chance, different species will colonize different islands in a chain. C) Populations on nearby islands are more likely to be genetically isolated than populations that are equally close to one another on the mainland.

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Bryce · Answer 1

Populations on nearby islands are more likely to be genetically isolated than populations that are equally close to one another on the mainland.

Explanation:

Adaptive radiation may be defined as the process of evolution in which the single ancestral specifies diversify to form the new multiple species. This is a kind of divergent evolution.

The adaptive radiation results in the process of speciation. The archipelago species is genetically isolated from the mainland. These species has similar characteristics that might be due to their closeness of the island to the mainland.

Thus, the correct answer is option (C).