AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -The Galapagos finches evolved through natural selection from a common ancestor into a wide variety of different looking species with different kinds of beaks.

Detailed explanation-2: -Darwin’s finches are a classical example of an adaptive radiation. Their common ancestor arrived on the Galapagos about two million years ago. During the time that has passed the Darwin’s finches have evolved into 15 recognized species differing in body size, beak shape, song and feeding behaviour.

Detailed explanation-3: -In Darwin’s finches, those that have short beaks turned out to be an adaptation that made them more suited into poking holes in the ground and feed on grubs. 3. Darwin’s finches are an example of how natural selection caused variation of beaks among finches.

Detailed explanation-4: -Galapagos finches are an example of divergent evolution. Through time, the species evolved morphologically different traits. A prototype example of divergent evolution is Galapagos finches. Charles Darwin’s Beagle voyage led him to conclude that the finches diverged from their descendant species.

Detailed explanation-5: -The avian palaeontologist David Steadman argued, based on morphological and behavioural similarities (1982), that the blue-back grassquit Volatinia jacarina, a small tropical bird common throughout much of Central and South America, was the most likely direct ancestor of the Galápagos finches.