Chapter 17.3, Problem 2CSC

One possible explanation for the distinctive collection of species found in the Annamite and Andes Mountains lies in the geological history of these regions. During the ice ages that have occurred repeatedly during the past million years or so, the area covered by tropical forests must have shrunk dramatically. Organisms that depended on the forests for survival would have been restricted to any remaining “islands” of forest, isolated from their fellows in other, distant patches of forest. As we have learned, this kind of isolation can set the stage for allopatric speciation and may have created the conditions that gave rise to the saola, the olinguito, and other unique denizens of tropical forests. Once a new species arises, can we expect it to persist indefinitely?