Explain how all the following are related to the process of speciation: mutation, natural selection, meiosis, geographic isolation, changes in the Earth, and gene pool.

What effect does mutation have on the kinds of alleles present in a population and the gene frequency within a population? How does meiosis affect the combinations of genes present from one generation to the next? How might events such as: earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, continental drift, or mountain building processes isolate a population from the rest of the species? Must the gene pools of two populations of the same species be identical? If two populations of the same species live in environments that are different how might natural selection affect the frequency of specific genes in the gene pool?