Evolution cannot readily be simulated under laboratory conditions. There is no way to artificially reproduce the longterm effects of continuous competition for resources, space, and mates under natural conditions. Therefore, studies in the geological past are of great interest because they provide the only observable insight into the history of organismic change.
Speciation is one of the most basic processes in evolution.
This mode of speciation has otherwise also been referred to as phyletic evolution. In the case of the planktic foraminiferal lineage Globorotalia fohsi Norris et al. Many of these studies are suffering from lacking biogeographic coverage. Such patterns are only partly predicted by the the peripheral isolation model of punctuated equilibrium, which predicts stasis and rapid appearances by splitting at individual places, but does not explicitely discuss repetitive patterns in space or time. All these difficulties make it necessary to re-evaluate the models of isolation and speciation, at least in the case of oceanic plankton.