Need Help With This Biology Evolution Questions?

Question

So I have a question concerning Amur Leopards (PANTHERA PARDUS ORIENTALIS​) 

1. what type of speciation is involved with this type of leopard

2. which one applies the animal gene flow or genetic drift and why?

3. How does macroevolution and microevolution apply to the organism?

Thanks

Answer 1

Hello Divine! I'd be happy to help you with your questions:

1. I would say that the type of speciation that most closely applies to the Amur leopard is allopatric speciation, because they are the northernmost leopard subspecies and geographically separated from their southern cousins. For example, it is believed that the Pearl River in the Yunnan province of China forms a barrier between the Amur and Indochinese leopard.
2. Genetic drift, due to the fact that the Amur leopard is critically endangered, with a population size small enough to lead to a Bottleneck Effect, in which the species loses genetic variation.
3. In simple terms, macroevolution produced leopards and in general big cats from a common ancestor, while microevolution can happen within a population of Amur leopards, a few genes at a time. Macroevolution refers to large-scale evolutionary changes over time, while microevolution refers to variations in the genes of a single group.

Hope this helps! :)