Disruptive Selection In A Bimodal Population Of Darwin’s Finches

Much of the diversity of life on earth may be the result of adaptive radiation - but this process is hard to study unless caught in the act. We studied a population of Darwin’s finches in the Galapagos that shows some signs of splitting into two species. We found that birds with intermediate beak sizes have low survival during drought conditions. This “disruptive selection” should help to maintain the existing divergence in beak size.

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Filed under: Biology on November 7th, 2008