The populations living on a rough, steep mountain would have a higher rate of speciation than this living in a large, open grassland because the mountain would a. show less habitat fragmentation b. have less variety in the environment c. have a wider range of environments d. provide more natural resources

The correct answer is option C, that is, have a wider range of environments.  

It has been known that geographic isolation is a general way for the initiation of the process of speciation, like the rise of mountains, rivers changing course, migration of organisms, continental drift, due to this what was once a steady population gets differentiated into two or more kinds of smaller populations.  

A mountain range, due to distinctions in temperature and precipitation as a result of different altitudes, can lead to a higher rate of speciation. Due to these differences, a single mountain range can exhibit an enormous array of biodiversity and climate zones.

c.) polymerase chain reaction

- "unlike the original dna fingerprinting method, dna profiling does not use restriction enzymes to cut the dna. instead it uses the polymerase chain reaction (pcr)? to produce many copies of specific str sequences. pcr is an automated procedure that generates lots of copies of a specific sequence of dna."