Figure 24.6 Allopatric speciation of antelope squirrels on opposite rims of the Grand Canyon. Harris's antelope squirrel(Ammospermophilus harrisii inhabits the canyon's south rim(left). Just a few kilometers away on the north rim(right) lives the closely related white-tailed antelope squirrel(Ammospermophilus leucurus). Birds and other organisms that can disperse easily across the canyon have not diverged into different species on the two rims.
trast,small rodents may find a wide river or deep canyon a formidable barrier (Figure 24.6)Ounce geographic separation has occurred, the separated gene pools may diverge. Different mutations arise, and natural selection and genetic drift may alter allele frequencies in different ways in the separated populations. Reproductive isolation may then arise as a by-product of selection or drift having caused the populations to diverge genetically. For example, on Andros Island, in the Bahamas, populations of the mosquitofish Gambusia hubbsi colonized a series of ponds that later became isolated from one another. Genetic analyses indicate that little or no gene flow currently occurs between the ponds. The environments of these ponds are very similar except that some contain many predatory fishes, while others do not. In the"high-predation" ponds, selection has favored the evolution of a mosquitofish body shape that enables rapid bursts of speed (figure 24.7)
In ponds lacking