Question

In the early 1900s, three species of goatsbeard wildflowers, T. dubius, T pratensis, and T. porrifolius, were introduced to the United States. Each of the species had a chromosome number of 2N. In the 1930’s, a few populations of offspring from the original wildflowers were identified as having a chromosome number 4N. What does this data suggest about speciation.

A. Speciation has occurred because the original species of wildflowers produced populations of viable offspring.
B. Speciation has occurred because breeding between the offspring and original populations would not be possible.
C. Speciation has not occurred because the offspring of the original wildflowers were not introduced into a new area.
D. Speciation has not occurred because the offspring inherited identical genetic information to the original wildflowers.

Answer 1

B. Speciation has occurred because breeding between the offspring and original populations would not be possible.

Step-by-step explanation:

Speciation has occurred in the species due to no breeding between the offspring and original populations because the offspring and original species has different number of chromosomes in their DNA. Due to this difference in the chromosome number in the DNA, there is no chance of breeding between offspring and original species. Speciation is the evolutionary process by which populations of organism evolve with the passage of time and become different from the original species.