The process of speciation allows a single species to diverge into two. Dive into the different versions of this process, including “allopatric speciation” and “sympatric speciation,” and discover how ...

The genetic study of speciation was pioneered by conceptual insights from the 1930s that still hold today. Recent studies have recreated or dissolved species, providing investigators with the means ...

If one accepts some version of the biological species concept, the central problem of speciation is the origin of isolating barriers that prevent actual or potential gene flow among populations (Coyne ...

It has long been thought that dramatic changes in a landscape like the formation of the Andes Mountain range or the Amazon River is the main driver that initiates species to diverge. However, a recent ...

Extra genomes appear, on average, to offer no benefit or disadvantage to plants, but still play a key role in the origin of new species, say scientists. Plant biologists have long suspected polyploidy ...

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American This is a repost from April 24 th, 2010.