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Why would a rough, steep mountain habitat have a higher rate of speciation than a large, open grasslands habitat??

User Yun CHEN
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Answer: The mountain would isolate subgroups of the population.

Explanation: APEX 8/22/19

User Ashray Baruah
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A rough, steep mountain habitat will have much higher rate of speciation than an open grassland habitat, and there are few reasons for that. The rough, steep mountain will have several biomes, depending on the elevation, as the climate is changing with the elevation, thus the living conditions are different. This results in different types of organisms at each biome in accordance with the elevation, so there will be much more different species because of the specializations required. The mountain will also act as a natural barrier for the air masses, resulting in the windward side being much more moderate in the temperature and wetter. The leeward side, on the other hand, will be much drier and warmer. This will result in further specialization, by having different habitats on the two different sides of the mountain even though the elevations are the same. The open grassland habitat will have much less speciation, with the prime reason being that it has monotonous conditions, thus the organisms will be the same all over it as the conditions are the same all over ti.

User Rahul Jiresal
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