Weiner writes: “The Grants’ work on Darwin’s Finches… Is one of the most intensive and valuable animal studies ever conducted in the wild; zoologists and evolutionists already regard it as a classic.” Why?
What is the importance of variation in a population?
Why do finch species with similar feeding habits show greater differences in their beaks when they live on the same island, than when they live on different islands? Also, how do the feeding habits of the finches change from the wet season to the dry season?
In the drought of 1977, what was the evidence for natural selection, and in 1978 what was the evidence for evolution?
Describe how Peter Boag intended to determine if beak size was heritable. That is, how can a trait that shows variation in a population be studied to determine to what extent that trait is heritable?
Distinguish between natural selection and sexual selection. How does each operate among the finches on Daphne Major?
Explain what is meant by “competitive exclusion” and how “character displacement” can allow two very similar species to coexist. (Hint: Chs. 4 &10 might be a good place to think about this one!)
From your reading of this book (and perhaps from reading your text, and discussions in class) what is your thinking on what a “species” is?
Explain what is meant by “adaptive landscape”, and why the Grants think that at times hybrids might be at a disadvantage but how at other times hybrids might have an advantage.
What is the positive feedback mechanism described on page 206? Of what importance is this?
How are scientists, like Peter Boag, “reading the genes” (e.g., cytochrome b) of the Galapagos finches to determine the evolutionary relationships among them.
What effect have invasive species had on the evolution of native forms?
Discuss the evolution of resistance to pesticides and antibiotics. How does that work?
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