Speciation of Finches in the Galapagos Islands

Speciation is the formation of a new species. It is a key principle behind Darwins theory of evolution through natural selection. Allopatric speciation refers to new species forming due to a geographic barrier. Each sub-population develops into a new species due to many environmental factors. This results in different genotypes and phenotypes of each species, which ultimately prevents further interbreeding. An example of this which supports Darwins theory is the finches in the Galapagos Islands off the coast of South America. The Galapagos Islands consist of several main islands, along with many smaller islands and islets in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It is situated off the coast of Ecuador in South America. The concept is that the finches off the mainland migrated to these islands and thus formed 14 new species. This occurred millions of years ago, and was discovered by Charles Darwin in 1835 and aided as evidence to his theory of natural selection. Darwin travelled on a ship called the HMS Beagle. He saw that there were similar species of finches on each island, but each species was distinctly different from the other. Although it is a long distance from the Ecuadors coastline to the various islands, it is possible for the birds to travel this distance. The only possible explanation is that the finches travelled by air to these islands. An important factor would have been wind. Wind can easily carry insects and seeds across many kilometres. If the wind was strong enough, it could have easily carried small birds, such as finches, across the sea to the islands (Jackon, 2012). Each new island posed different threats and different attributes to the finches. An example of this is the availability of seeds. The finches had various sized beaks, and the finches with the best suited beak size survived. On some islands, there were small seeds, whereas on others there were much larger seeds. The finches with the larger beaks would have been better suited to the islands with the large seeds. This would mean that the small beaked finches would have died out on that island, whilst the large beaked finches would have been able to survive better, and reproduce more, passing on the gene of the large beak. Some islands would not have had seeds at all, and only insects. Each species would have evolved based on various factors, such as climate, availability of food, topography, trees and foliage, predators, competing organisms, natural disasters, amongst other factors. The genes that were most beneficial to each island would have flourished, resulting in reproduction and passing on this gene. The other finches that did not possess these beneficial traits would have slowly died out. Over time, a new species would evolve due to these dominant traits, on each island. The main species that formed are ground-dwelling seed-eaters; cactuses and seed-eaters; tree-dwelling and seed-eaters; and treedwelling insect-eaters (Adaptive Radiation: Darwin's Finches, 2008). An example is the woodpecker finch (Cactospiza pallida). The beak is similar to that of woodpeckers. It uses its beak to drill holes in wood, and then it uses a cactus needle to dig out insects with its beak. This is used as evidence for Darwins theory of evolution and natural selection (Speciation, 2012). As each new species was formed, it became impossible or unlikely for interbreeding to occur. This is known as isolating mechanisms. Reproductive isolating mechanisms have two categories: prezygotic isolating mechanisms, which stop the

creation of zygotes, and postzygotic isolating mechanisms, which stop the correct functioning of zygotes after they develop. Ecological isolation refers to species within the same area, but different habitats due to lifestyle, so that they hardly ever come across each other, which limits potential breeding. There is also behavioural isolation, when different species are not attracted to each other due to various courtship or mating rituals. Another type of isolation is temporal isolation, where different breeding seasons will prevent interbreeding. Mechanical isolation is when the species are so different physically, that it is impossible to create viable offspring. Postzygotic isolating mechanisms refer to if hybrid mating does occur and zygotes are produced, these zygotes may still not develop into viable and normal functioning organisms (Origin of Species, 2011). As shown above, the speciation of the finches in the Galapagos Islands gives strong, supporting evidence to Darwins theory of evolution. Geographical barriers led to the formation of the various species of finches found on the island. These new species were then unable to interbreed after some time, due to variation in genotype, phenotype and various isolating mechanisms.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Adaptive Radiation: Darwin's Finches. (2008). Retrieved May 5, 2013, from Public Broadcasting Service: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/6/l_016_02.html Darwin's Finches. (2012). Retrieved May 5, 2013, from Truth In Science: http://www.truthinscience.org.uk/tis2/index.php/component/content/article/53.html Eager, D. (2006). GALAPAGOS Island finches have shown new evolution recently, so how do you explain this? Retrieved May 5, 2013, from Ask John Mackay: http://www.askjohnmackay.com/questions/answer/galapagos-island-finches-new-evolutionrecently-how-do-you-explain Finches of the Galapagos Island. (2013, January 4). Retrieved May 5, 2013, from Apologetics Press: http://www.apologeticspress.org/DiscoveryPubPage.aspx?pub=2&issue=1119&article=2143 Jackon, M. H. (2012). Species Arrival to Galapagos. Retrieved May 2, 2013, from Galapagos Conservancy: http://www.galapagos.org/about_galapagos/species-arrival-and-evolution/ Origin of Species. (2011). Retrieved May 2, 2013, from MHHE: http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/genbio/raven6b/graphics/raven06b/other/raven06_22.pdf Speciation. (2012, July 13). Retrieved May 2, 2013, from RCN: http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/S/Speciation.html#Darwin'sFinches