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Chapter 52: 10 (page 1187)

Discuss how the distribution of a species can be affected both by its evolutionary history and by ecological factors. Could ongoing evolutionary change also affect its distribution? Explain.

Short Answer

Expert verified

The combination of both evolutionary history (change in species characteristics over a generation) and ecological factors affects where species inhabit. Species are restricted to the single continent where their ancestors originated.

Step by step solution

01

Species

Species is the classification of a large group of biological organisms like plants or animals with shared characteristics with members interbreeding among themselves.Examples of different species includeblack bears, sunflowers, humans, microscopic bacteria, jack pines, white-tailed deer, and moose.

Various characteristics related to species are shared gene pool, similar biochemistry, similar anatomy, interbreeding, and similar genetic material.The different roles performed by species in an ecosystem are species diversity, influence productivity, ecological niche, and ecosystem’s integral component.

02

Biogeography

Biogeography is the subfield of geographic and biological disciplines that focus on past and present species and ecosystem distribution in the geographic space.

Biogeography branches include ecological, island, palaeobiogeography, and conservation biogeographies.An example of biogeography is the classification of the floral region of North and South America.

03

Evolutionary history and ecological factors 

Ecological factors(factors influencing living organisms like light, soil, and temperature)such as biotic and abiotic factors limit species distribution. When species are distributed to a new area, they are unable to survive and reproduce due to the incompletion of their life cycle.

Predation, competition, and parasitism are considered negative interactions of species with other organisms, which cause relocated species to be unable to complete their life cycle. The evolutionary change also affects the distribution of species due to their adaptation in different environments.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Commercial fisheries target older, larger cod fish, causing cod that reproduce at a younger age and smaller size to be favored by natural selection. Younger, smaller cod have fewer offspring than do older, larger cod. Predict how evolution in response to fishing would affect the ability of a cod population to recover from overfishing. What other reciprocal eco-evolutionary effects might occur? (See Concept 23.3.)

Jens Clausen and colleagues, at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, studied how the size of yarrow plants (Achillea lanulosa) growing on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada varied with elevation. They found that plants from low elevations were generally taller than plants from high elevations, as shown in the diagram. Clausen and colleagues proposed two hypotheses to explain this variation within a species: (1) There are genetic differences between populations of plants found at different elevations. (2) The species has developmental flexibility and can assume tall or short growth forms, depending on local abiotic factors. If you had seeds from yarrow plants found at low and high elevations, how would you test these hypotheses?

Explain how the sun’s unequal heating of Earth’s surface results in deserts near 30° north and south of the equator.

Jens Clausen and colleagues, at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, studied how the size of yarrow plants (Achillea lanulosa) growing on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada varied with elevation. They found that plants from low elevations were generally taller than plants from high elevations, as shown in the diagram. Clausen and colleagues proposed two hypotheses to explain this variation within a species: (1) There are genetic differences between populations of plants found at different elevations. (2) The species has developmental flexibility and can assume tall or short growth forms, depending on local abiotic factors. If you had seeds from yarrow plants found at low and high elevations, how would you test these hypotheses?

MAKE CONNECTIONS Hawaiian silverswords underwent remarkable adaptive radiation after their ancestor reached Hawaii, while the islands were still young (see Figure 25.22). Would you expect the cattle egret to undergo similar adaptive radiation in the Americas (see Figure 52.18)? Explain.
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