of allopatric speciation; whereas laboratory experiments of Drosophila and other animal and plant species have confirmed that reproductive isolation evolves as a byproduct of natural selection. Vicariance model The notion of vicariant evolution was first developed by Léon Croizat in the mid-twentieth century. The Vicariance theory, which showed coherence along with the acceptance of plate tectonics in the 1960s, was developed in the early 1950s by this Venezuelan botanist, who had found an explanation to the existence of American and Africa similar plants, by deducing that they had originally been a single population before the two continents drifted apart. Currently, speciation by vicariance is widely regarded as the most common form of speciation; and is the primary model of allopatric speciation. Vicariance is a process by which the geographical range of an individual taxon, or a whole biota, is split into discontinuous populations (disjunct distributions) by the formation of an extrinsic barrier to the exchange of genes: that is, a barrier arising externally to a species. These extrinsic barriers often arise from various geologic-caused, topographic changes such as: the formation of mountains (orogeny); the formation of rivers or bodies of water; glaciation; the formation or elimination of land bridges; the movement of continents over time (by tectonic plates); or island formation, including sky islands. Vicariant barriers can change the distribution of species populations. Suitable or unsuitable habitat may be come into existence, expand, contract, or disappear as a result of global climate change or even large scale human activities (for example, agricultural, civil engineering developments, and habitat fragmentation). Such factors can alter a region's geography in substantial ways, resulting in the separation of a species population into isolated subpopulations. The vicariant populations may then undergo genotypic or phenotypic divergence as: (a) different mutations arise in the gene pools of the populations, (b) they become subjected to different selective pressures, and/or (c) they independently undergo genetic drift. The extrinsic barriers prevent the exchange of genetic information between the two populations, potentially leading to differentiation due to the ecologically different habitats they experience; selective pressure then invariably leads to complete reproductive isolation. Furthermore, a species' proclivity to remain in its ecological niche (see phylogenetic niche conservatism) through changing environmental conditions may also play a role in isolating populations from one another, driving the evolution of new lineages. Allopatric speciation can be represented as the extreme on a gene flow continuum. As such,