Final answer:
High-altitude populations have developed diverse evolutionary pathways, with unique adaptations such as different breathing patterns, hemoglobin levels, and other phenotypic changes that demonstrate geographic separation can result in significant variation.
Step-by-step explanation:
No, diverse evolutionary pathways are observed among high-altitude populations. For example, in human populations, Indigenous populations in the Andes, Tibet, and the Ethiopian highlands all face the challenge of living in a low-oxygen environment, yet they have developed unique adaptations. Tibetans breathe more rapidly to compensate for low oxygen levels, while Andeans have higher hemoglobin concentrations in their blood. Ethopians at high altitudes exhibit neither adaptation, and their method of dealing with low oxygen levels remains less understood.
In case of plants, scientists can observe adaptation and speciation processes by experimenting with plants from high and low altitudes. For instance, they may grow high-altitude plants at low altitude and vice versa to study phenotypic changes and potential speciation through adaptive evolution.
The concept of a cline also illustrates how geographic separation between populations can result in phenotypic variation. An example of a cline is seen in some warm-blooded animals, which tend to have larger body sizes in cooler climates to conserve heat—a latitudinal cline. On the other hand, flowering plants may exhibit variation in blooming time along a mountain slope—an altitudinal cline.