Water's role in evolution explored
Climate change could devastate Africa's water networks - but trigger an explosion in the number of species on the continent, new research suggested.
The study by scientists at the universities of Edinburgh and Leeds also sheds new light on the important role of water in evolution.
As temperatures rise, African rivers and lakes will begin to dry up, researchers say.
Grazing animals, such as buffalo and wildebeest, may die in great numbers if their local water sources evaporate.
This is because they are not very mobile creatures who must live close to water.
Other grazers with more reliable access to water will become increasingly isolated as they are forced to stay near one of the few remaining lakes or rivers.
Their mobility will be severely restricted as the animals will have fewer watering holes to move between.
When gene mutations occur among these isolated herds, the changes in these groups will not be spread to the whole species through reproduction, as would have happened in the past.
Scientists predict animals who were once in the same species will be so transformed by this isolation they will no longer be compatible - becoming entirely different species.
When Africa's water networks recover and animals who were once in the same species encounter each other again, they will discover they can no longer reproduce.
