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Galapagos finches seen becoming new species


Still Waters

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A population of finches on the Galapagos has been discovered in the process of becoming a new species.

This is the first example of speciation that scientists have been able to observe directly in the field.

Researchers followed the entire population of finches on a tiny Galapagos island called Daphne Major, for many years, and so they were able to watch the speciation in progress.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-42103058

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wow A finch turned into a.....wait for it.....a.....a......wait for it.....a finch.I think the same thing has been observed in dogs too

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3 hours ago, timewarper108 said:

wow A finch turned into a.....wait for it.....a.....a......wait for it.....a finch.I think the same thing has been observed in dogs too

This is far more significant, maybe read the article. :tu:

Welcome to UM.

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So then, morphological difference alone (and not the ability to interbreed) can differentiate species? 

The article says these descendants of the one finch are bigger and able to exploit food sources that the native birds can not. It says that the native finches will not interbreed with this bigger finches due to difference in their mating songs. BUT... Since there is only like 30 of these finches, doesn't that mean there will be a lack of genetic diversity and thus, they could end up dying out relatively quickly as a species?

 

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5 hours ago, DieChecker said:

So then, morphological difference alone (and not the ability to interbreed) can differentiate species? 

The article says these descendants of the one finch are bigger and able to exploit food sources that the native birds can not. It says that the native finches will not interbreed with this bigger finches due to difference in their mating songs. BUT... Since there is only like 30 of these finches, doesn't that mean there will be a lack of genetic diversity and thus, they could end up dying out relatively quickly as a species?

 

Not necessarily, i mean hillbillies and old timely royalty, am i right?

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They were the finches that Darwin saw when he arrived on the islands in the 1830s onboard the Beagle, which led to him coming up with his Theory of Evolution.

Edited by Black Monk
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2 hours ago, _KB_ said:

Not necessarily, i mean hillbillies and old timely royalty, am i right?

You mean the backwoods mutants and the pale bleeders? :tu:

No sir, no genetic disadvantages there.....

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That's how red factor canaries came about gradually crossing the young of red hooded siskins to canaries the back crossing eventually along came red factors, it's going on now amongst breeders to revive London fancy some although it's a bit more complex than that

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6 hours ago, DieChecker said:

You mean the backwoods mutants and the pale bleeders? :tu:

No sir, no genetic disadvantages there.....

i meant that they could survive, not that it'd be pretty

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