Speciation




Speciation is the evolutionary process by which reproductively isolated biological populations evolve to become distinct species. The biologist Orator F. Cook was the first to coin the term 'speciation' for the splitting of lineages or "cladogenesis," as opposed to "anagenesis" or "phyletic evolution" occurring within lineages. Charles Darwin was the first to describe the role of natural selection in speciation. There is research comparing the intensity of sexual selection in different clades with their number of species.