Question

Pieolapithecus, Dryopithecus, and Oreopithecus are special. Explain in detail why they are such unique species through a comparison of their location with two species from the Miocene living in a different continent?

Answer 1

The main reason for their unique species is the environmental conditions there. The different environmental conditions can play an important role in the generation of phenotypes. However, various developmental mechanisms by which environmental agents influence normal development are known as well as visible. the species has evolved to receive cues from the environment in order to modulate its developmental trajectory. Environmental conditions that are responsible for different species can be both biotic air abiotic conditions. abiotic (such as photoperiod or temperature) or biotic (such as those emanating from conspecifics, predator, or food), and the “modification” produces a normal, not a pathological, phenotype, that is proper for the environment. environmental changes can be drivers for the evolution of new forms and not only a major cause of species extinction. A genome can indeed accommodate multiple evolution paths, and life can adapt itself to its surroundings and environmentally regulated sex determination and morphologies. the environment can produce diverse phenotypes from the same genotype. The genetic capability to retort to such environmental factors has to be inherited, of course, but in these cases, it is the environment that points to the different phenotypes from the identical nuclear genotype. And not only different environments but different resources present in some place also play an important role in the development of different species there. Sometimes the environment gets so much that it also changes the genome of the species that come there so that those species indicate the emergence of different species. At a minimum, three paths have been initiate through which the environment can modify gene activity. The first is the neuroendocrine route. Here, the nervous system monitors the environment and transfers signals to the endocrine system. The endocrine hormones can then modify gene expression. The second way involves environmental factors that vary the methylation pattern of genes, thereby changing their transcriptional abilities. The third path includes the direct initiation of gene expression in the host by microbial symbionts. So for all these reasons, through comparison of their location with two species of Miocene living in a different continent, they look like such unique species.