one of the birds on the galapagos islands is the medium ground finch. these birds prefer to eat small seeds, which are easier to eat than large seeds. however, when food is scarce, such as during a drought, some of the birds can eat larger seeds. the ability to crush and eat larger seeds is related to break thickness, an inherited characteristic. birds with thicker beaks are able to crush large seeds more easily.
-describe the changes that would occur in the medium ground finch population during a long period of drought when food is scarce.
-explain how this set of changes is an example of the process of natural selection
2006-12-31 06:09:12 · 2 answers · asked by whiskersbluwie 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
Finches with bigger beaks would survive and pass on ther alleles for big beaks. Small beaked finches would die. The alleleic freqeuncy of big beak aleles would increase in subsequent generations as long as the drought continued. This is the research of Peter and Rosemary Grant of Princeton Univeersity.
2006-12-31 08:21:46 · answer #1 · answered by ivorytowerboy 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The population of ground finches would decrease. As not all finches with thinner beakers can eat the larger seeds and so would die. Those finches that have a thicker beak are more likely to survive, while those with a thin beak are less likely to survive. This is an example of natural selection, those with a thicker beak are "naturally selected" to survive. This means that they will go on to pass these characteristics through the following generations.
2007-01-01 03:59:10 · answer #2 · answered by maidmaz 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋