A single pregnant female parakeet arrives in Hawaii early in its history. After millions of years, her descendants have successfully adapted to a variety of foods and habitats. What is this is the result of?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This is an example of adaptive radiation, where a single ancestral species diversifies into multiple descendant species, each adapted to a specific niche or habitat. The parakeet's descendants have adapted to different foods and habitats in Hawaii over millions of years, resulting in a variety of species. Genetic drift is a random process that can lead to changes in allele frequencies in a population, but it is unlikely to result in the diversity of species seen in this scenario. Allopatric speciation involves the geographic isolation of populations, which can lead to the evolution of new species, but there is no indication that this occurred in the parakeet's case. Similarly, sympatric speciation involves the evolution of new species within the same geographic area, which is not the case here.

A Single Pregnant Female Parakeet Arrives in Hawaii Early in Its