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Reproductive isolation between species appears, in certain cases, a long time after fertilization and the formation of the zygote, as happens – for example – in the twin species Drosophila pavani and D. gaucha. The hybrids between both species are not sterile, in the sense that they produce viable gametes, ovules and spermatozoa.
[3]: 354 [4] [5] Differences in behavior or biology that inhibit formation of hybrid zygotes are termed prezygotic isolation. Reinforcement can be shown to be occurring (or to have occurred in the past) by measuring the strength of prezygotic isolation in a sympatric population in comparison to an allopatric population of the same species.
Reinforcement, under his definition, included prezygotic divergence and complete post-zygotic isolation. [18] Servedio and Noor include any detected increase in prezygotic isolation as reinforcement, as long as it is a response to selection against mating between two different species. [4]
For example, the secondary contact between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, as well as the Denisovans, left traces of their genes in modern human. However, if hybridization is so common that the resulting population received significant amount of genetic contribution from both populations, the result should be considered a fusion.
Three-spined stickleback fish have been a frequently studied species in ecological speciation.. Ecological speciation is a form of speciation arising from reproductive isolation that occurs due to an ecological factor that reduces or eliminates gene flow between two populations of a species.
Prezygotic intrinsic and extrinsic differences have also been shown to be important in isolating hybrids from their parent species. In plants, pollinator mediated isolation resulting from changes in floral characteristics may be an important extrinsic prezygotic ecological barrier.
For example, differential fusion implies greater postzygotic isolation among sympatric species, as this functions to prevent fusion between the species. However, Coyne and Orr found equal levels of postzygotic isolation among sympatric and allopatric species pairs in closely related Drosophila . [ 8 ]
Hybrid zones can form from secondary contact. A hybrid zone exists where the ranges of two interbreeding species or diverged intraspecific lineages meet and cross-fertilize. . Hybrid zones can form in situ due to the evolution of a new lineage [1] [page needed] but generally they result from secondary contact of the parental forms after a period of geographic isolation, which allowed their ...