The process through which new species evolve from a single ancestral species while inhabiting the same geographic region: "Sympatric speciation events are much more common in plants, as they tend to develop multiple homologous sets of chromosomes, resulting in a condition called polyploidy (having one or more extra sets of chromosomes)."

"The polyploidal offspring occupy the same environment as the parent plants; therefore, sympatry; but they are reproductively isolated while the speciation is taking place via populations with overlapping geographic ranges."