A population of wildflowers is separated by an eight-lane superhighway. Pollen is often carried by the wind across the highway and can pollinate the flowers on the other side of the highway. Can speciation occur in this situation?

Speciation generally requires populations to become reproductively isolated, so they no longer exchange genes. Although the highway separates the wildflowers, wind carries pollen across it and can pollinate flowers on the other side, allowing gene flow. Therefore, the populations are not reproductively isolated, so the best choice is “No, because the populations are not reproductively isolated.”

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