My Year of Darwin 5/22/2014: Maybe... just maybe... evolution

 

"One might really fancy that from an original paucity of birds in this archipelago, one species had been taken and modified for different ends"  Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle

So phylogenetics tells us that this scenario is most likely true; a population of finches composed of a single species flew out to the Galapagos and speciated into twelve or thirteen new species. Interesting that Darwin chose the phrase "had been taken" and not just "flew" or "found their way". Wish we could ask. 

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Rain today so not field work. Staying home and working on a poster for the joint Wilson Ornithological Society - Association of Field Ornithologist meeting. Wish I could find that data from 2004!  

Wishing you a great day reader.