What is meant by speciation ? List four factors that could lead to speciation . Which of these cannot be a major factor in the speciation of a self-pollinating plant species. Give reason to justify your answer.

Explanation

Speciation . The process by which new species develop from the existing species by evolution or any genetic modification of previous species is known as speciation.
(i) Geographical isolation of a population caused by various types of barriers like mountain ranges, rivers, sea etc. The geographical isolation leads to reproductive isolation due to which there is no flow of genes between separatiion groups of population.
(ii) Genetic drift caused by drastic in the frequencies of particular genes by chance alone.
(iii) Variatios caused in individuals due to natural selection.
(iv) Drastic change in the genes or DNA called mutation is also a cause of speciation. Reproductive isolation can not be a major factor for the speciation of a self-pollinating plant species as it does not depend on any other plant for its reproduction process.