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New finch species developed in just two generations
Behold: The Big Bird.
New research has documented a species of finch evolving on the Galápagos island of Daphne Major, 1,000km off the west coast of Ecuador, in just two generations.
It's called the "Big Bird" lineage because, um, as finches go, the birds are relatively large.
The work, led by Uppsala University's Sangeet Lamichaney with Princeton University senior authors Rosemary and Peter Grant, appears this week in Science.
Although Charles Darwin originally thought evolution would take many decades, recent research suggests it can happen on much faster timescales (especially if you allow crossbreeding). The apple maggot fruit fly (Rhagoletis pomonella), for example, was a spin-off from a species that fed on hawthorne in the northeastern United States. It appeared within about 100 years of the apple's arrival in America.
In the new study, scientists proved Daphne Major's Big Birds descended from a common ancestor – a large cactus finch (Geospiza conirostris) from Española Island about 100km away.
The large cactus finch bred with the native medium ground finch (Geospiza fortis). And after two generations, the Big Birds ceased mating with the natives – only among themselves. So bam. New species.
Behold: The Big Bird.
New research has documented a species of finch evolving on the Galápagos island of Daphne Major, 1,000km off the west coast of Ecuador, in just two generations.
It's called the "Big Bird" lineage because, um, as finches go, the birds are relatively large.
The work, led by Uppsala University's Sangeet Lamichaney with Princeton University senior authors Rosemary and Peter Grant, appears this week in Science.
Although Charles Darwin originally thought evolution would take many decades, recent research suggests it can happen on much faster timescales (especially if you allow crossbreeding). The apple maggot fruit fly (Rhagoletis pomonella), for example, was a spin-off from a species that fed on hawthorne in the northeastern United States. It appeared within about 100 years of the apple's arrival in America.
In the new study, scientists proved Daphne Major's Big Birds descended from a common ancestor – a large cactus finch (Geospiza conirostris) from Española Island about 100km away.
The large cactus finch bred with the native medium ground finch (Geospiza fortis). And after two generations, the Big Birds ceased mating with the natives – only among themselves. So bam. New species.