Sympathy

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As sympatry (from the Greek σύν syn "together", πατρίς patris "Fatherland") is called in biology and biogeography a form of geographical distribution, the distribution areas in of members of two populations , subspecies or species overlap so closely related populations occur together in the same geographical area, so that they can meet and possibly also cross. The term was first introduced to science by Edward Bagnall Poulton in 1904, but owes its later popularity and spread primarily to the evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr .

Sympatry represents the contrast to parapatry , in which there is no direct overlap of the areas, but these are adjacent to each other, and to allopatry , in which the areas of distribution of closely related species or populations are completely spatially separated. For evolutionary biology , sympatry plays a role in the context of sympatric speciation . The expression and the concept are central to the synthetic theory of evolution . The term syntope was introduced for populations that not only have the larger, geographically defined distribution area in common, but also live in their habitats together and next to each other .

If species or populations have overlapping areas of distribution (i.e. are sympatric), but have interfered with in different habitats, one speaks of ecological separation (as opposed to geographical separation ). Since around the year 2000 evolutionary biologists have begun to rethink the term sympatry in connection with sympatric speciation; in some cases, modified and new terms have been proposed. Often a biogeographical sympatry (not geographically separated populations) and a population-genetic sympatry are distinguished. The background is to make the term more manageable for modeling . The gene flow is central to the debate . If there is never contact between individuals in geographically overlapping areas of distribution, the processes of speciation can hardly be distinguished from a complete separation (allopatry) on the level of mechanisms in terms of population genetics. The term “microallopatry” has been suggested for populations that live alongside rather than with one another. True sympathy would therefore only be realized with actual contact. Proposals to completely redefine the term so that only populations with realized panmixia should be called “sympatric” are predominantly viewed as too extensive.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ James Mallet (2004): Perspectives. Poulton, Wallace and Jordan: how discoveries in Papilio butterflies led to a new species concept 100 years ago. Systematics and Biodiversity 1 (4): 441-452. doi : 10.1017 / S1477200003001300
  2. ^ Ernst Mayr: Systematics and the Origin of Species from the Viewpoint of a Zoologist. Columbia University Press, 1942. Columbia biological series 13.
  3. ↑ Luis Rene Rivas (1964): A Reinterpretation of the Concepts “Sympatric” and “Allopatric” with Proposal of the Additional Terms “Syntopic” and “Allotopic”. Systematic Biology 13: 42-43.
  4. ^ BM Fitzpatrick, JA Fordyce, S. Gacrilets (2008): What, if anything, is sympatric speciation? Journal of Evolutionary Biology 21: 1452-1459. doi : 10.1111 / j.1420-9101.2008.01611.x
  5. ↑ J. Mallet, A. Meyer, P. Nosil, JL Feder (2009): Space, sympatry and speciation. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22 (11): 2332-2341. doi : 10.1111 / j.1420-9101.2009.01816.x

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