Q: What occurs when the presence or absence of a specific behavior prevents reproduction from taking place?


Read this paragraph and choose the correct option from the provided answers:

Behavioral isolation occurs when the presence or absence of a specific behavior prevents reproduction from taking place. For example, male fireflies use specific light patterns to attract females. Various species of fireflies display their lights differently. If a male of one species tried to attract the female of another, she would not recognize the light pattern and would not mate with the male. Other prezygotic barriers work when differences in their gamete cells (eggs and sperm) prevent fertilization from taking place; this is called a gametic barrier. Similarly, in some cases closely related organisms try to mate, but their reproductive structures simply do not fit together. For example, damselfly males of different species have differently shaped reproductive organs. If one species tries to mate with the female of another, their body parts simply do not fit together. (Figure 18.19).

 Choices:

- spontaneous mutation

- natural selection

- primary speciation

- behavioral isolation


A:
behavioral isolation