Question

In the mechanism of adaptive radiation, what happens after members of a species spread into different habitats?

Options

• All groups immediately develop identical adaptations

• Different environmental pressures act on different groups

• Sexual reproduction ceases between separated groups

• The species migrates back to its original location

Answer 1

Following the spread of species members into different habitats or ecological niches, different environmental pressures act on different groups. These varying pressures create the conditions for natural selection to favour different useful variations in each group, ultimately leading to divergence and the formation of distinct species.