104 - Speciation (w/ Rachel Kruger!)
104. Speciation
What’s in a name? Would that which we call a rose by any other name smell as sweet? Maybe. But what we call groups of organisms is about more than just a catchy title; studying speciation gives us greater insight into how evolution and biodiversity exist in our world. Let's learn to be scientifically conversational.
General Learning Concepts
Species concepts - what definition of a species is "best"? Biological species concept vs. ecological vs. phylogenetic, etc. (Coyne & Orr, 2004)
Speciation from hybridization (Comeault & Matute, 2018) vs. speciation from divergence
Within divergent speciation, sympatric (Felsensetin, 1981) vs. allopatric vs. parapatric speciation (Mimulus is a good study system for this.) (i.e. are the diverging populations in the same geographic area, or are they physically separated, or are they next to each other, but not a lot of gene flow?)
Reproductive isolation (Coyne & Orr, 1997)
The ecological relevance of speciation