Name: ___________________________________________________________ Date: ________________ Per: _________
Speciation Activity
Speciation can occur in two ways. Describe them below.
a. Behavioral Isolationb. Geographic IsolationYou are going to illustrate and describe how geographic isolation can lead to speciation.
Part A: Design a creature or choose an existing one. Describe at least 3 unique traits this organism
has and a draw a picture of a population (a whole bunch!) of these creatures. Be sure to show
variation of each trait (color differences, height differences etc.)
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Part B: Have your population undergo geographic isolation from one of the following events, so that
it’s separated into 2 groups each having different variations of the traits: by flood, volcanic eruption,
mountain formation, earthquake, storm, forest fire, etc. Draw a picture and describe what is
happening in the picture.
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Part C: Choose a way for the environment to change so that the population undergoes natural
selection, choosing variations of traits that are now more favorable in each environment. Each
separated population becomes adapted to their different environment (i.e. It’s drier on one side or a
fruiting plant is only found on one side etc) Describe the change in environment and draw a picture.
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Part D: Now your population of organisms will go through differentiation, where the isolated
populations become so different that they cannot interbreed anymore. The isolated populations
become genetically different from each other over many generations. Draw a picture of your two
different populations and describe how they are different.
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