Gene For Beak Size In Darwin’s Finches Identified

Plants and Animals





Photo credit:

Medium ground finch (Geospiza fortis). Peter R. Grant

After visiting the Galapagos, Charles Darwin proposed that species who compete for the same, limited food resources tend to diverge from each other to reduce competition. Seed-eating finches have hardy bills, for example, while those who drink nectar from cactus flowers have thin, sharp bills. This was called the principle of character divergence, now known as ecological character displacement. And nearly two centuries later, researchers have finally identified a gene that can explain differences in beak size.