Question

9. Flower A blooms in June while flower B, a close relative of A, blooms in August. A researcher is raising a population of flower B in a controlled growth chamber. Over time the researcher manipulated the day length in the growth chamber and eventually manages to get some individuals of flower B to bloom in June. The researcher finds that she can cross the flower B individuals with flower A individuals and they produce viable, fertile offspring. What can she conclude about flower A and flower B? The fact that B's blooming time can be manipulated suggests it should not be regarded as a species distinct from A. A and B aren't a good example of separate species. A and B are not pre-zygotically isolated from one another. A and B are temporally reproductively isolated from each other. A and B are genetically incompatible.

Answer 1

In the given case, the flowers A and B are temporally reproductively isolated from each other.

Explanation:

Reproductive isolation takes place when populations cannot mate efficiently with each other. As a consequence, slight genetic differences originate within the populations. With time, the genetic differences gathered in the isolated populations results in the formation of various kinds of different species. In the given case, even though both the flowers A and B are the similar species, the two different flowers bloom at distinct times, resulting in a time-imposed or temporal barrier to reproduction.