Question

Scientists have discovered that there are reproductive isolating mechanisms that can stop a population from interbreeding and possibly lead to the formation of a new species. What is this process called

Answer 1

Polyploidy

Step-by-step explanation:

The isolating mechanism that is capable of stopping a population from interbreeding, possibly leading to speciation is polyploidy.

Polyploidy is a condition in which a species of an organism will have multiple, instead of a diploid, chromosomal set as a result of an error during meiosis.

Non-disjunction during meiosis can make a gamete have a diploid number of chromosomes in the place of a haploid chromosome. A 2n gamete fusing with an n gamete will result in a triploid organism, 2n plus 2n gametes will result in a tetraploid organism, etc.

If the extra chromosomal set is from the same species, such polyploidy is termed autopolyploidy, otherwise, it is termed allopolyploidy. Having extra sets of chromosomes has the capacity to make an organism to be reproductively incompatible with normal diploid organisms of the same species. However, polyploid organisms can either self-pollinate or cross with another polyploid organism, a process that can lead to sympatric speciation.