Question

Consider the following statement and choose the correct option.

“Darwin finches differ from each other on the basis of ___i___ which represents ____ii____”.

• A. i - feather, ii - adaptive radiation
• B. i - beak, ii - adaptive radiation
• C. i - feather, ii - convergent evolution
• D. i - beak, ii - convergent evolution

Answer 1

The correct option is B i - beak, ii - adaptive radiation

The process of evolution of different species in a given geographical area starting from a common ancestor, radiating to other geographical areas, where the new environmental conditions brought about the suitable adaptation in the descendent population is called adaptive radiation.

Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in different organisms because they live in similar environments.

Darwin’s finches are the birds which differ from each other on the basis of their beak shapes which represents adaptive radiation as they originated from a common ancestor. The individual birds of that ancestral stock species had modified their beak shape based on the type of food resource available in their niche. Thus, this gave rise to different species of finches with different beak shapes, best adapted to feed on the available food like insects, seeds, etc.