Using data on four species of Darwin's finches on the Galápagos Islands, researchers led by McGill University have confirmed a long-standing hypothesis that species diversity evolves through ...

They say that hindsight is 20/20, and though the theory of ecological speciation -- which holds that new species emerge in response to ecological changes -- seems to hold in retrospect, it has been ...

In the sunbaked Galápagos Islands, a male finch perches on a branch, hearing what sounds like another bird’s song. But something’s not quite right. The song is slower and deeper, like a familiar tune ...

The beaks of Darwin's medium ground finches can evolve to crush the shells of hard seeds. Credit: Andrew Hendry They say that hindsight is 20/20, and though the theory of ecological speciation—which ...

A global team of biologists has compiled nearly two decades of field data -- representing the study of more than 3,400 Darwin's finches in the Galapagos Islands -- to identify the relationship between ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. The finches that call Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands home are ...

The Galápagos Islands have long symbolised evolutionary ingenuity, typified by Darwin’s finches. However, the recent incursion of avian parasites, most notably the invasive fly Philornis downsi, has ...

The islands are volcanic in origin and were never attached to any continent. Galápagos wildlife arrived by flying, floating or swimming. Birds might have flown there by accident and decided to settle ...

Aims: Islands are widely recognized as natural laboratories for evolutionary studies, but many questions about evolution on islands remain unresolved. Here we address two general questions from a ...

AMHERST, Mass. – They say that hindsight is 20/20, and though the theory of ecological speciation — which holds that new species emerge in response to ecological changes — seems to hold in retrospect, ...

Scientists simulated how drought conditions could change the song of Darwin’s medium ground finches by digitally modifying recordings to mimic what would happen as their beaks grew larger over ...

Evolutionary biologists have long suspected that the diversification of a single species into multiple descendent species – that is, an “adaptive radiation” – is the result of each species adapting to ...