How do the hypotheses of ""phyletic gradualism"" and ""punctuated balance"" explain the process of lineage diversification?

Answer and Explanation:

Phyletic gradualism and punctuated balance are speciation theory. They are effective models for understanding macroevolution. Both define the rates of speciation. The phyletic gradualism model theorizes that most speciation is gradual, slow, and uniform, such as a black and yellow butterfly. When a butterfly is born, its color is yellow and orange, making it hard to see. The black and yellow butterflies become extinct over a long period, while yellow and orange butterflies can survive due to less visibility to predators. Punctuated balance suggests that once a species seems in the fossil record, the population will become steady and indicate little evolutionary modification, such as a species of birds live in stasis for numerous years.  Suddenly bacteria affect their prime tree of shielding to die. The birds must adopt the changes. Some birds survive, and the remaining birds die. Until the others die out, more birds are born. Then the species again returns to a stasis state. The Gradualism model shows evolution as a slow, steady process in which organisms develop and change slowly over time, while punctuated balance models show evolution as a long period of evolutionary change. Due to the mechanisms of evolution in a time frame, both models describe successive evolutionary alterations.

if your own plato the answer is b. the fern transitioned from sporophyte generation to gametophyte generation.