A single species of finch from South America was displaced to a new habitat in the Galápagos Islands and evolved rapidly into several new species as it exploited the new resources. What occurred in these Darwin's finches?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The evolution of multiple new species in a relatively short amount of time to exploit new resources is characteristic of adaptive radiation, which occurred with Darwin's finches in the Galápagos Islands. Phyletic speciation occurs when a species gradually transforms into a new species over a long period of time without a major event such as a migration or habitat change. Divergent speciation occurs when populations of a species become physically separated and evolve independently, resulting in distinct species. Stabilizing selection occurs when individuals with intermediate phenotypes have higher fitness than those with extreme phenotypes, resulting in a narrowing of the range of variation over time. Polyploidy is a type of genetic mutation where an organism has multiple sets of chromosomes, which can lead to reproductive isolation and speciation, but this is not what happened with Darwin's finches.

A Single Species of Finch from South America Was Displaced