Q.Differentiate allopatric and sympatric species.
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →The key difference is geography: allopatric speciation needs physical separation, sympatric speciation does not.
In allopatric speciation, a physical barrier (a mountain range, river, or ocean) splits a population into geographically isolated groups; with gene flow cut off, each group accumulates its own mutations and adaptations under different selective pressures until they become reproductively isolated and form distinct species — the classic example being Darwin's finches diverging across the separated Galapagos islands. In sympatric speciation, new species arise within the same geographic region, without any physical separation; reproductive isolation instead develops through other mechanisms such as polyploidy, habitat/niche specialisation, or behavioural/temporal differences in ma …
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