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What would happen if a species within a population were suddenly split into 2 groups by an earthquake that creates a physical barrier like a canyon?

If a species within a population is faced with a physical barrier such as an earthquake that renders their re-engagement with the population impossible, the organism would be prompted to adapt to the new habitat or circumstance. A population refers to the total sum of species in a given geographical area that live together and are capable of interbreeding. If this population is split, this process is called speciation and has the effect of causing the organisms to restructure their existential means in the new surroundings.

Speciation is the process by which an organism adapts to a newly acquired habitat by virtue of being forced to be present in that habitat either by natural occurrences or by reason of evolution. When an organism is shifted from its previous habitat to a new habitat, it has to find ways and means to adapt to the surrounding. It may achieve this by adapting enhanced or changed physical characteristics. Additionally, the species may change their breeding habits and this may ultimately lead to the development and evolution of two distinct organisms of the same species.

Speciation may take different forms. There is the allopatric speciation that occurs when the species in a given population are separated by a physical barrier. This physical separation makes it difficult for the organisms to breed with the members of the former population. Secondly, paripatric speciation takes place when a small number of species in a population dissociates from the main population in a manner similar to the allopatric speciation. The difference between allopatric and paripatric speciation is the fact that in allopatric speciation, the dissociation takes an almost equal number while in paripatric speciation there is a larger group and a smaller group when the dissociation takes place. When paripatric speciation occurs, the defining characteristics of the organisms are passed on to the future breeds and which serve to differentiate them from the other species of the same kind. Thirdly, there is the sympatric speciation which is distinguished by the emergence of new breeds of a species without having any dissociation or geographical barriers in a population. Lastly there is the artificial speciation which refers to the creation of new species and breeds through scientific means.

Reference being made to the discussion above, when organisms are split into two groups by a physical barrier, this could take the nature of an allopatric or paripatric speciation. Consequently, the following would happen to the organisms in both groups: there would be a change in the genetic structure between the species on the two different sides. This may be caused by the fact that it is highly likely that the organisms on the one side possess a different subset of genes that the other side does not possess. Additionally, there may be a difference in the physical and structural features between the organisms on both sides of the divide in terms of physical attributes such as claws, beaks, wings and so forth. This is because the animals would eventually be forced to adapt to different means of feeding and therefore would need to acquire features adapted to making it easy and possible to obtain food.

References.

Darwin, C. (1996.). The Origin of Species: By Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. Oxford : Oxford University Press. Jay, S. (1980.). The Panda's Thumb. New York:: W. W. Norton. National Geographic. (2014, Dec 3). Speciation. Retrieved from National Geographic: http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/speciation/?ar_a=1 Quammen, D. (1996). The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions. New York .: Simon & Schuster.