Question

Describe one example of adaptive radiation.

Answer 1

The process by which new species are formed by adapting to its environment from a common ancestor is called adaptive radiation.
Darwin’s finches is the well known example of adaptive radiations
i) Darwin went to the Galapagos islands and observed different varieties of finches present on different parts of the islands.
ii) These finches were very different from the mainland finches.
iii) He theorized, that millions of years ago, the South American mainland was populated by these ancestral seed eating finches
iv) Due to an environmental event some of these ancestral seed eating finches were carried along with the strong wind to the Galapagos islands.
v) These finches were not capable of flying large distances and hence could not go back to the mainland. So, these finches adapted to this island.
vi) Initially all these birds had the same beak – equipped for eating seeds. But as they occupied different regions of this island their beaks adapted to acquire different kinds of food
vii) Thus, there existed cactus eating, fruit eating, insect eating birds along with seed eating birds.While the original ancestral mainland finch ate only seeds