Hello everyone,
I'm new to the forum and this will be my first post. This is a very elementary question, and if you have any recommended reading for basic evolutionary biology, it would be appreciated!
My question concerns evolution and the variation of chromosome count. I can understand a benign random genetic mutation contributing to the overall strength of a particular species, but the emergence of entirely new species with a new number of chromosomes remains unclear.
While we see chromosomal abnormalities in humans fairly frequently, these abnormalities seem to be accompanied exclusively with significant disruptions in the expression of advantageous traits. Second, wouldn't an organism with an entirely new number of chromosomes require a mate with the same number of chromosomes to reproduce? In other words, wouldn't the same chromosomal abnormality have to occur simultaneously in at least two members of a given population in order for it to spread?