Two populations of rats are discovered on nearby islands Des

Two populations of rats are discovered on nearby islands. Describe two ways that we could determine whether they are a single species.

Solution

The most common of determining if the two populations are from the same species is if the two species can interbreed, and if they can, are the offsprings sterile or not. A number of rats from each population are mated and the offsprings are further mated with rats from both the populations and the other offsprings. If the first generation hybrids are able to produce offsprings with both the populations and the other hybrids, the rats are of the same species.

Another way of telling if the two populations are of the same species is by using DNA profiling. The DNA sequences are compared and based on the similarity, the relationship between the two species can be established.