Following in Darwin’s footsteps, a team anticipates the evolution of Galapagos finch song

by time news

2024-10-23 14:36:00

A series of droughts would be enough to modify their song to the point of leading to the appearance of new species.

More than 160 years ago Charles Darwin upset our entire conception of the history of life by theorizing the concept of evolution and natural selection. During his travels to the Galapagos, aboard the Beaglesthe naturalist is struck by the morphological diversity of the finches’ beaks, which vary greatly from one island to another but also within the same population. Some have thin beaks and feed on small seeds or insects, others have thicker beaks, suitable for crushing larger, harder seeds.

For Darwin these dietary specializations cannot be the result of chance. Rather, they are the result of a long process of adaptation to environmental resources. Hence the idea that species are perpetual « evolution »undergoing subsequent morphological transformations over the generations. Those that provide an advantage are somehow “selected” because…

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