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A small island in Galapagos can hold a large number of finches due to absence of their natural predators .
Darwin observed that small birds on the Galapagos islands differed in the shape of their beaks.The seeds that were left on the island were harder so the birds beaks evolved and became stronger and harder.
Charles Darwin thought that the original population of finches were blown over from South America to the Galapagos Islands.
The finches of the Galápagos Islands are an example of the founder effect, where a small group of finches established a new population on an isolated island. Over time, genetic variations that were present in this small group became more prevalent in the subsequent generations of finches on the island.
The finches of the Galapagos Islands provided Charles Darwin with the inspiration for his Theory of Evolution. They provided the basis of modern biology. The differences found between species in such a small place are important for the study of Bioogy.
The Galapagos Islands are volcanic islands located off the west coast of South America. The individual islands are either a shield volcano characteristic of a single volcanic caldera located in the highest point of the island and tapering off to a flat coast. In the case of Isabela Island it was formed by several shield volcanoes merging together to form a single island. Or several of the small islands were formed by a process known as geological uplift which are seen as flat table like islands.
The largest town in the Galapagos is Puerto Ayora, on Santa Cruz Island. Its population is approximately 15, 000. PUerto Baquerizo Moreno in San Cristobal island is smaller, followed by Puerto Villamil in Isabela Island, and a small village on Floreana Island.
When Darwin visited the Galapagos he noted that the islands had very different climates but had similar birds. He recognised a species of finches common on the mainland but on each island they had different shaped beaks. Some had long pointed beaks to extract insects from their burrows.On another island the finches had grown massive short beaks that were able to crack nuts. Taking a sample from each island he realised that they had all originally been from a single breeding pair which had probably been blown from the west coast of South America and had stayed. This was a key discovery, birds with the wrong beak died, birds with a shorter beak could crack small nuts leaving bigger nuts for those birds that would evolve with a bigger beak. These birds still exist in the Natural History Museum and are known as the Galapagos Finches. Giant tortoises from each island have evolved different neck arches in their shells to cope with the local vegetation
Island finches are specially isolated whereas populations that live in large forests aren't. The island finches will have more gene flow.
Darwin argued that the beak size and shape was related to their food source. Since evolution follows "the survival of the fittest", the finches with the beaks better suited to the available food on the island would out compete other finches. This explains why finches on different islands had different beaks, because the islands had different food sources.
House finches are small and have a reddish color head and neck. They are wild birds.
Evolution was seen by many. But the mechanics were not well understood. One of Darwin's observations involved finches in the different Galapagos Islands. Each island had finches with slightly different physical attributes. Charles Darwin noticed that the shape of their beaks were different, depending on their primary food. Some beaks were shaped to make eating seeds more efficient. Others were shaped to eat insects. The finches that Darwin brought back as stuffed specimens, are still present in the British Museum. The collection is mounted, and it is easy to see the differences. Darwin felt that all of these different finches were descendants of finches that were blown on to the islands during a storm. Darwin was able to show that small differences gave finches on various islands an advantage. After many generations, each island had finches whose differences were very obvious. According to Darwin, the finch that lived on a specific island, did not choose to change. But small changes in beak structure, gave those birds an advantage. They were able to gather more food, and eventually had more living offspring. A good example are dandelions growing on a lawn. The lawn mower is set at a specific height. As you mow your lawn, the taller dandelions have their tops cut off. No flowers, they can't reproduce. But the few shorter dandelions are left, their pollen reproduce, and now most of the dandelions are short, close to the ground, and difficult for the lawn mower to cut them off.