Where parallel evolution occurs in the plant kingdom
- When two species are similar in a particular character, evolution is defined as parallel if the ancestors were also similar and convergent if they were not
- All organisms share a common ancestor more or less recently
- there's the question of either how far back to look in evolutionary time and how similar the ancestors need to be for one to consider parallel evolution to have taken place is not entirely resolved within evolutionary biology
- Some scientists have argued parallel evolution are more or less indistinguishable from one another
- Others have argued that we should not shy away from the gray area and that there are still important distinctions from parallel evolution
- Defined as the repeated independent evolution of the same reproductive isolating mechanism
- An example of this may occur when a species colonizes several new areas which are isolated from, but environmentally similar to, each other
- Similar selective pressures in these environments result in parallel evolution among the traits that confer reproductive isolation