Natural Selection Lab

Report
By
Lorenzo Silva
Anthropology 1020
M. Schaefer

Introduction - This lab report will be about Darwins finches and the evolutionary process. I
was not in class for the activity. I have emailed you multiple times. But I did not want to miss out
on 40 points, so I decided to read a couple articles and reviews on Darwins finches and put my
findings in here. Better something than nothing. I would like if we could talk about this
assignment and possibly finding a way to fix it and make it better. Thanks.

When Charles Darwin stepped ashore on the Galapagos Islands in September 1835, it was the
start of five weeks that would change the world of science, although he did not know it at the
time. Among other finds, he observed and collected the variety of small birds that inhabited the
islands, but he did not realize their significance, and failed to keep good records of his
specimens and where they were collected. It was not until he was back in London, puzzling over
the birds, that the realization that they were all different, but closely related, species of finch led
him toward formulating the principle of natural selection.
In his memoir, The Voyage of the Beagle, Darwin noted, almost as if in awe, "One might really
fancy that, from an original paucity of birds in this archipelago, one species had been taken and
modified for different ends."
Indeed, the Galapagos have been called a living laboratory where speciation can be seen at
work. A few million years ago, one species of finch migrated to the rocky Galapagos from the
mainland of Central or South America. From this one migrant species would come many -- at
least 13 species of finch evolving from the single ancestor.
This process in which one species gives rise to multiple species that exploit different niches is
called adaptive radiation. The ecological niches exert the selection pressures that push the
populations in various directions. On various islands, finch species have become adapted for
different diets: seeds, insects, flowers, the blood of seabirds, and leaves.
The ancestral finch was a ground-dwelling, seed-eating finch. After the burst of speciation in the
Galapagos, a total of 14 species would exist: three species of ground-dwelling seed-eaters; three
others living on cactuses and eating seeds; one living in trees and eating seeds; and 7 species of
tree-dwelling insect-eaters.
Scientists long after Darwin spent years trying to understand the process that had created so
many types of finches that differed mainly in the size and shape of their beaks.
Most recently, Peter and Rosemary Grant have spent many years in the Galapagos, seeing
changing climatic conditions from year to year dramatically altering the food supply. As a result,
certain of the finches have lived or died depending on which species' beak structure was best
adapted for the most abundant food -- just as Darwin would have predicted. (PBS)

Comprehensive studies over the past 20 years by the Grants (reviewed in a more palatable,
layman form in "The Beak of the Finch") has revealed many interesting lessons about the
evolutionary process. Our current understanding of evolution is that new species are born when
the population of the ancestor species is split. Once the gene pool is separated, the two
populations may be subject to different natural selection pressures, and hence, evolve in separate
ways. The splitting of a population followed by subsequent evolution is known as allopatric

speciation. At some point, the populations may come back together again, that is, they may
become sympatric. A variety of possibilities arise when two populations, born in allopatry
become sympatric;
1).
If the two populations have not diverged too greatly, then they can simply merge back
into a single population
2).

The two populations may compete, one eventually becoming extinct.

3).
The two populations may avoid competition by specializing. In this case, they would
continue to diverge in sympatry. (Rothman)

Our revised and dated phylogeny of Darwins finches shows that the adaptive radiation took
place in the past million years, with a rapid accumulation of species recently (Supplementary
Text). We have genomically characterized the entire radiation, which has revealed a striking
connection between past and present evolution. Evidence of introgressive hybridization, which
has been documented as a contemporary process, is found throughout the radiation.
Hybridization has given rise to species of mixed ancestry, in the past (this study) and the
present30. It has influenced the evolution of a key phenotypic trait: beak shape. Similar
introgressive hybridization affecting an adaptive trait (mimicry) has been described in
Heliconius butterflies32. The degree of continuity between historical and contemporary
evolution is unexpected because introgressive hybridization plays no part in traditional accounts
of adaptive radiations of animals1,2. For young radiations it complements the better-known role
of natural selection. (Lamichhaney, Sangeet, et al. 2015) This article has scientific method
research as well.

The scientific method is the ongoing process of observing, researching, and discovering
new scientific facts and theories. The first step is to make an observation about something or an
occurrence in the world. The next step is to think of questions as to why this might occur. The
next step is to formulate a hypothesis, like what might be the causes of the occurrence said
person is pondering. Then you must develop a prediction that is testable. After that you gather
your data, and then you test your data. You can then refine, expand, change, or reject that
hypothesis. Making an ongoing cycle.
The scientific method can be used in everyday life. One way I might use it is in my
workout regimen. Say I want to develop different muscles or lose fat and become more shredded.
I would research the best ways to do so. Then over an 8 or so week period, I would implement
these into my workouts. I would take pictures at the beginning and the end of the 8 weeks, to see
differences. This would include 3 to 4 steps of the method.

Darwin's Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection

1. More individuals are produced each generation that can survive.
2. Phenotypic variation exists among individuals and the variation is heritable.
3. Those individuals with heritable traits better suited to the environment will survive.

4. When reproductive isolation occurs new species will form. (Mclean, NDSU)

References

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/6/l_016_02.html
Lamichhaney, Sangeet, et al. "Evolution Of Darwin's Finches And Their Beaks Revealed
By Genome Sequencing." Nature 518.7539 (2015): 371-375. Psychology and Behavioral
Sciences Collection. Web. 30 Jan. 2017.
https://people.rit.edu/rhrsbi/GalapagosPages/DarwinFinch2.html
https://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~mcclean/plsc431/popgen/popgen5.htm