A question most biologists find themselves asking is how new species originate. Fascination of the diversity of life on Earth has pushed many to find the answer.
Today, the assumption in the discipline of speciation biology is that genetic differences between populations of animals and plants in a given species are important drivers of new species formation and are a key to understanding evolution. But that assumption has never been fully tested until now, biologist Michael G. Harvey compiled and analyzed data containing genetic sequences from 17,000 individuals in 173 New World bird species. He demonstrated that species showing faster rates of genetic differentiation between populations are more likely to produce greater numbers of species over long periods. He recorded the rate of genetic differences between populations of the 173 bird species. Comparing the rate of population to the probability of forming new species, was based on other track records. He discovered that the rate of differentiation is connected to the rate of the formation of species. This study proved the correlation between population differences and speciation rates, and confirm the importance of genetic differences.I think this article shows how beneficial a persistent biologist is when trying to understand a global fascination.
Wow! It is fascinating to see how rapidly birds can form new species with so much genetic variation. In the future who knows how many different bird species we will have with so much variation.
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