nana_shake wrote:Its' very unlikely new species will occur, and even if they do, they wont derive very quickly...or at a normal speed at all. Mutation is probably the biggest cause for variation, evolution and divergence. Without it, life would definitely not be the same. I couldnt imagine living without mutations in our genes and DNA; it just wouldnt work.
But, i guess variation can derive from other sources such as the independant assortment of chromosomes in meiosis and the fact that in sexual reproduction, one half of the offspring's genes/DNA comes form the father and the other from the mother.
It's a hard topic, and i, myself have studied it thoroughly, but there is no right or wrong answer.
Have you read the whole thread?
I think we've already established that there is sufficient variation within the present genome to allow for substantial future differentiation, even without mutation.
I'm beginning to think that there's enough potential for variation stored in the genome not only to generate new species, but possibly even new genus and families.
