Questions pertaining to the processes by which new species arise.

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Change in conditions of an ecosystem lead to change in organisms

Let's think about the slash and burn method and its effects on the ecosystem. Cutting down trees that rise all the way up to the canopy would expose the plants at ground level to more light, so would ...
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Speciation by polyploidy

Speciation can occur by polyploidy. My understanding of the process is as follows: 'polyploidy is when the number of chromosomes in an organism's cell doubles. This means that the organism has more ...
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Evolution in 37 years, is it possible?

I am confused, can evolution ( speciation ) really occur in such a short time ? In 1971, biologists moved five adult pairs of Italian wall lizards from their home island of Pod Kopiste, in the ...
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Were there lifeforms before LUCA?

This question got me thinking about something. LUCA is the last universal common ancestor of all current living organisms, which is a very different definition from the first-ever living organism. Is ...
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Is extreme cladism a mainstream position in the species debate?

In the philosophy of biology it has been claimed many times that a popular position regarding the question of what species are, among biologists, is cladism. For my current purposes, the defining ...
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Species with reproduction barriers that can both reproduce with a third species

To start with, I do not have a sound knowledge in biology or any formal education in the area. I was told that one of the definition of a species is a reproductive barrier, which means that if two ...