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The Galapagos Islands And Darwin's Theory Of Evolution

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The world is forever evolving, never remaining permanent. Land that once rose above the sea years ago is slowly sinking due to rising sea levels and global warming, animals evolving and having to adapt to new environments after the earth’s crust parted due to continental drift creating new islands and continents. The proof for the theory of evolution is embedded in the crusts of the earth of today, telling the story of the geography of genetics.
What is evolution?
Evolution is the gradual change of a population’s gene pool by mutations over a period of time. There are two types of evolution, micro- evolution which is evolution within a species as well as macro-evolution which is decent of a different species from a common ancestor over many generations. This allows for survival of the fittest amongst species therefore allowing survival in changing surroundings.
The Galapagos Islands and Darwin’s theory …show more content…

Mainland organisms descended to the Galapagos Islands and due to Geographic isolation were forced to adapt to their surroundings in order to survive and therefor causing speciation to occur. Reproductive isolation occurs from species being no longer able to breed with one another due to distance, causing genetic isolation.
Charles Darwin spent a long time studying the species on the Galapagos Islands and comparing them to the species on the mainland of South America. He discovered the species living there originated from the mainland but had adapted in different ways in order to survive in the new environment. His main focus was the Finches. Darwin discovered that the fiches were genetically similar, but their beaks were different. This was due to the finches having to adapt to the different food niches that were available on different islands. The theory of natural selection was then

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Scientific Concepts in “The Beak of The Finch” On an island in the middle of a volcanic archipelago, where Darwin first created theories on the idea of evolution, Peter and Rosemary Grant spend twenty years proving that Darwin did not understand the power of evolution. I now understand better how natural selection, hybridization, and adaptation work in the real world. When I first took biology freshman year I didn’t quite understand how natural selection and evolution were real. But, as you read this book you begin to learn that natural selection is not a rare thing nor does it work slow.

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Moreover, the finches that survived on each island would evolve to be better suited to their environments. Eventually, the groups of finches would separate into their own species. Darwin's idea of natural selection was that plants and animals best suited to their environments will survive to reproduce, and the weak ones will die off over

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The Galapagos islands are home to finches, finches are birds that have changed over the years due to environmental changes, evolution and natural selection. Evolution occurs due to changes in one's environment. Due to this, to survive and reproduce an organism or in this chase a finch must evolve and adapt or natural selection will kill them off . Not only do the birds change but island around them. In 1976 Daphne's Island suffered from a dramatic drought.

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Many things change over time for example trees lose their leaves, these are not evolution because they do not involve genetics. The main idea of evolution is that all of the life on earth shares a common ancestor. Many fossils show that evolution did indeed happen   The beak of the finch shows an in-depth look at the research Charles Darwin did in the Galapagos Islands. Peter and Rosemary Grant show this by visiting and researching the Galapagos Islands for over 20 years.

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The video about the Galapagos Islands that we viewed in class was, very informative. This video was enjoyable and showed very good examples of Darwin’s theory of evolution. The various examples of evolution were shown through the many unique species that live on the Galapagos Islands, such as the saddle-back tortoise. In fact, Darwin actually traveled around South America and the Galapagos Islands themselves. He also discovered that the animals that lived on the islands seemed to be made to adapt to the environments around them, rather than just being made to survive in one, unchanging environment.

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After observing finch specimens from the Galapagos, Darwin concluded that species must have an ability to alter over time. Darwin then proposed that as species modified, and as old species disappeared, new versions could be presented.

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Revenge is a concept that has not changed. The only thing that does change is people and how they enact their revenge against those who have hurt them. Revenge is a method that anyone from the poor to royalty used to regain honor or hurt someone who shamed them. Honor is extremely important no matter where you are in the world, so for anything to tarnish reputation or honor is unacceptable. Giovanni Boccaccio makes multiple examples in his stories where the characters get shamed so they extract revenge in brilliant ways.

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References: Darwin’s Finches and Natural Selection in the Galapagos. (2017). Retrieved from http://earthwatch.org/Expeditions/Darwins-Finches-and-Natural-Selection-in-the-Galapagos Simon, E.J. (2017). Biology: The Core (2nd Edition).

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Natural selection is a force of nature that is a catalyst to forever changing variations in species of plants and animals. Pertaining to the article, "Darwin and Natural Selection" by Dr. Dennis O'Neil, the Galapagos Islands helped Darwin to understand the idea of evolution. Darwin identified thirteen different species of finches that differ from beak size and shape. The term used for this variation today is called adaptive radiation; where different populations of the same species develop different characteristics due to contrasting environments. Moreover, Darwin realized the beak varieties were apparent to the differing diets of each population of finches.

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In nature, there are a variety of organisms within the same species who have better-suited adaptations to their environment while some do not. The finches that Darwin studied in the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador, for example, had different physical traits that suited them specifically for their environment, the resources that were available; consequently, the finches who do not have the necessary adaptations die off eventually, unable to reproduce a new generation. With additional research and studies, Darwin formalized this theory on the basis of evolution: “a Ratio of Increase so high as to lead to a Struggle for Life, and as a consequence to Natural Selection, entailing Divergence of Character and the Extinction of less-improved forms.” (Darwin XIV). When a certain species produces too much offspring, they will all fight for the same food or resource that may not be in an ample supply.

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Nonetheless, there are pieces of evidence that supports his theory as a whole, including transitional fossils, which connects gaps from one species to the next in the large “tree of life.” Darwin’s Theory of Evolution by natural selection “explains both the unity and diversity of life on Earth, how all organisms share a common ancestor, and how species adapt to various habitats and ways of life” (Mader 262). Many of Darwin’s conclusions are supported by new findings, such as the finches he found in the Galapagos Islands and how they adapted to the lifestyle of the tropical climate. Some finches had larger beaks to crush seeds, while others had smaller beaks to pick up seeds from the ground. Another supportive finding was the transitional fossil

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Evolution is the process of change over time. It can be split in two questions, how did something living come from something that was not alive? And, how did things that were already living turn into other living things? Natural selection is when the “breeder: is the environment. This belief of natural selection came from Charles Darwin.

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Depending on the conditions of the environment, the organisms may pass down selected traits to their offspring. These selected traits will allow for the next generation to better adapt and survive longer ["Natural Selection and Speciation - Biology."]. One example of evolution through the process of natural selection is that of the Viceroy butterfly. The Viceroy butterflies were facing extinction a little more than 100 years ago due to their inability to protect themselves or hide from their predators; mainly birds.

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Natural Selection is the process by which organisms that contain an array of traits that have a survival advantage in an environment tend to leave more offspring that can survive to reproduce in the next line of their lineage. Natural selection is a process that is observable which falls into the category of operational science. In short periods of time different organisms were observed. New species have also been observed to prove this theory. “Speciation is the process of change in a population that produces distinct populations which rarely naturally interbreed due to geographic isolation or other factors”.

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Introduction The theory of evolution has been discussed, evaluated, and researched many times since the theory was first brought to light. Darwin’s theory of evolution is said to be divided into two parts, common decent and natural selection (Bouzat, 2014). Many research papers agreeing with Darwin’s theory comment on the diversity of a species and how they have descended from one common ancestor. Natural selection is a process in which species that are better adapted to the environment tend to survive and reproduce (Dictonary.com).

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