Consider the following statements regarding the Ecotype:
1. Ecotype of a species are always inter-fertile.
2. Ecotypes arise due to mutations, hybridization and isolation.
3. Ecotype is genetically distinct and adapted to specific environmental conditions.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Explanation:
In evolutionary ecology, an ecotype, sometimes called ecospecies, describes a genetically distinct geographic variety, population or race within a species, which is adapted to specific environmental conditions.
The characteristic features of ecotypes are mentioned below:
1. Ecotypes of a species, though genotypically distinct, are always inter-fertile.
2. They retain their original features when cultivated in a natural habitat.
3. Ecotypes are genetically fixed.
4. A species with wide ecological amplitude can be distinguished on the basis of morphological and physiological characters into different habitat forms or ecotypes.
5. They occur in distinct habitats.
6. Ecotypes are discrete entities with clear differences which separate one ecotype from another.
7. The differences are not due to plastic response to change in environment but are actually due to natural selection of locally adapted populations.