| speciation | The evolutionary process by which diverse species of animals or plants are formed from a common ancestral stock. (05 Mar 2000) |
|---|
| allopatric speciation | <ecology> The evolutionary process through which two geographically separated (and therefore non-interbreeding) populations of the same species become less and less similar to each other over time (via mutation or the success of different traits in each environment) and eventually become distinctly different species. (09 Oct 1997) |
|---|---|
| sympatric speciation | <biology, ecology, zoology> The evolutionary process of a single population of a species splitting into two populations which gradually evolve into two different species (as a result of genetic mutation and variation) while both diverging populations still occupy the same geographic area. (19 Jan 1998) |
| quantum speciation | The rapid evolution of a newspecies from a small population that ispartially or totally isolated from the parent population, the rapidspeciation occurs due to geneticdrift and founder effect and usuallyinvolves a few mutations that have a big impact on the organisms' observable physical traits. (09 Oct 1997) |