Reproductive Isolation

It is the phenomenon driven by engines operating in sympatric populations causing the species to retain their individuality and remain separated from each other, so there is no exchange of genes.

The literature mentions two types of mechanisms: 
 a) pre-zygotic mechanisms where fertilization and formation of the zygote are prevented by the occupation of different habitats by populations living in the same region, the temporal or seasonal factor where populations are sexually functional at different times of the year, the ethological aspect (only in animals) due to different behaviors before mating; mechanical process by which cross-fertilization is prevented or restricted by differences in the structure of the reproductive organs; incompatibility and beyond gametic isolation. 
 b) post-zygotic mechanisms where fertilization occurs and zygote formation, but are impractical or weak or sterile hybrids originate, we highlight the shortcomings of inviability or hybrid sterility in the development of hybrid, hybrid sterility segregational and disintegration of generation F2.

Referência e ligações externas

Glossário de Recursos Genéticos. Embrapa Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnologia. Disponível em: < http://www.cenargen.embrapa.br/recgen/glossario/glossario.html>. Acesso em: fevereiro de 2011.