Beaks of Darwin' Finches

In 1835, before he had developed his theory of evolution, Charles Darwin col-
lected specimens of 13 previously unknown species of finches from the isolated
Galapagos Islands. The Galapagos finches closely resembled a species of finches
living on the mainland of South America, but each of the Galapagos species of
finches had a differently shaped beak unique to it. His observations led Darwin to
speculate that "from an original paucity of birds in this archipelago , one species
has been taken and modified for different ends." This is the essence of Darwin's
theory of evolution by natural selection: birds with a particular beak shape sur-
vived and reproduced because their beak made them well adapted for using a
particular food source. In this way one original species that came to Galapagos
from the mainland ultimately evolved into 13 new species.

1. The word "speculate" in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. claim
B. hypothesize
C. establish
D. realize

The correspondence between the beaks of the 13 finch species and their food
source immediately suggested to Darwin that evolution had shaped them. If his
suggestion that the beak of an ancestral finch had been shaped by evolution is
correct, then it ought to be possible to see the different species of finches acting
out their evolutionary roles, each using their beaks to acquire their particular
food specialty. The four species that crush seeds within their beaks, for example,
should feed on different seeds, those with stouter beaks specializing in harder-
to- crush seeds.

2. In paragraph 2，why does the author discuss the four finch species that crush
seeds within their beaks?
A. To suggest one way of testing Darwin's view that evolution determined the
shape of finch beaks
B. To emphasize that the finches with stouter beaks required a diet of larger
seeds in order to survive in their island environment
C. To argue that evolution may not have been the only factor in the shaping of
finch beaks
D. To explain why the other species observed by Darwin do not exist today

3. According to paragraph 2, which of the following should be true if Darwin was

right about the evolution of finch beaks?
A. The four finch species that crush seeds should all feed on the same seeds.
B. Most finches should eventually have similarly shaped beaks.
C. Finches with the stoutest beaks should feed on seeds that are the hardest to
crush.
D. Finches with stout beaks should have difficulty crushing seeds.
Many biologists visited the Galapagos after Darwin, but it was 100 years before
any tried this key test of his hypothesis when the great naturalist David Lack fi-
nally set out to do this in 1938. Observing the birds closely for a full five months,
his observations seemed to contradict Darwin's proposal. Lack often observed
many different species of finch feeding together on the same seeds. We now
know that it was Lack's misfortune to study the birds during a wet year, when
food was plentiful. The finch's beak is of little importance in such flush times;
small seeds are so abundant that birds of all species are able to get enough to
eat.

4. What can be inferred from the discussion in paragraph 3 about Lack's research
on finches?
A. His research supported his belief that evolution influenced the feeding habits
of finches.
B. His observations indicated that finches that feed on small seeds have higher
survival rates than finches that fed on large seeds.
C. His observations would have confirmed Darwin's hypothesis about finch beaks
if Lack had visited the Galapagos Islands during a dry year.
D. His observations led him to conclude that climate greatly affected the feeding
habits of finches as well as their beak sizes.

The key to successfully testing Darwin's proposal that the beaks of Galapagos
finches are adaptations to different food sources proved to be patience. Starting
in 1973, Peter and Rosemary Grant of Princeton University and generations of
their students have studied the medium ground finch Geospiza fortis on a tiny is-
land in the center of the Galapagos called Daphne Major. These finches feed
preferentially on small, tender seeds produced in abundance by plants in wet
years. The birds resort to larger, drier seeds, which are harder to crush, only
when small seeds become depleted during long periods of dry weather and
plants produce few seeds.

5. According to paragraph 4, which of the following accurately describes the

feeding habits of the medium ground finch Geospiza fortis?
A. The finch feeds primarily on large, dry seeds because small seeds do not con-
tain adequate nutrients.
B. The finch tends to feed more often on large, dry seeds that are more visible
than the smaller seeds.
C. The finch feeds on large seeds during dry years because smaller seeds are too
easily crushed and destroyed.
D. The finch feeds on tender seeds when it can, but when these are unavailable it
will eat large, dry seeds.
The Grants quantified beak shape among the medium ground finches of Daphne
Major by carefully measuring beak depth(width of beak, from top to bottom, at
its base) on individual birds. Measuring many birds every year, they were able to
assemble a detailed portrait of evolution in action. The Grants found that beak
depth changed from one year to the next in a predictable fashion. During
droughts, plants produced few seeds and all available small seeds were quickly
eaten, leaving large seeds as the remaining source of food. As a result, birds with
large beaks survived better, because they were better able to break open these
large seeds. Consequently, the average beak depth of birds in the population in-
creased the next year, only to decrease again when wet seasons returned.

6. According to paragraph 5, the average beak depth of birds increased after a

period of drought because
A. bird bodies, including their beaks, grew larger as they compensated for the pe-
riod when less food was available
B. birds with larger beaks had been able to feed on larger seeds and therefore
survived the drought of the previous season
C. birds could store additional seeds and food in their beaks for periods of
scarcity
D. larger birds with larger beaks attacked competing smaller birds in order to
protect their food supplies

Could these changes in beak dimension reflect the action of natural selection?
An alternative possibility might be that the changes in beak depth do not re-
flect changes in gene frequencies, but rather are simply a response to diet -
perhaps during lean times the birds become malnourished and then grow
stouter beaks, for example. If this were the case, it would not be genetics but
environment alone that influences beak size. To rule out this possibility, the
Grants measured the relation of parent bill size to offspring beak size, examining
many broods over several years. The depth of the beak was passed down faith-
fully from one generation to the next, regardless of environmental conditions,
suggesting that the differences in beak size indeed reflected genetic differences.

7. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in

the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning
in important ways or leave out essential information.
A. Changes in beak depth are often the result of variations in diet, such as when
birds grow stouter beaks during lean times.
B. Alternatively, it is possible that genetics may be a better explanation than diet
for changes in beak depth.
C. An alternative possibility is that changes in diet result in changes in gene fre-
quencies, such as when malnourished birds grow stouter beaks.
D. It is possible that changes in beak depth may result from variations in the food
supply rather than from changes in gene frequencies.
8. The word "faithfully' in the passage is closest in meaning to
A. consistently
B. easily
C. generally
D. noticeably

9. Look at the four squares [ ] that indicate where the following sentence can be
added to the passage.Where would the sentence best fit?Click on a square to in-
sert the sentence in the passage.

Moreover, the differences in beak shape corresponded to differences in the

foods eaten by the various finch species.

In 1835, before he had developed his theory of evolution, Charles Darwin col-
lected specimens of 13 previously unknown species of finches from the isolated
Galapagos Islands . [ A ] The Galapagos finches closely resembled a species of
finches living on the mainland of South America, but each of the Galapagos
species of finches had a differently shaped beak unique to it. [ B ] His observa-
tions led Darwin to speculate that "from an original paucity of birds in this archi-
pelago , one species has been taken and modified for different ends." [ C ] This is
the essence of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection: birds with a par-
ticular beak shape survived and reproduced because their beak made them well
adapted for using a particular food source. [ D ] In this way one original species
that came to Galapagos from the mainland ultimately evolved into 13 new
species.

10. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is

provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices
that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not be-
long in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the
passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.

Darwin's observation of Galapagos finches and their food sources led him to con-
clude that evolution shaped the birds' beaks.

Answer Choice:
A. The Galapagos finches had beaks that resembled the beak of a species that
had once lived on the mainland of South America.
B. David Lack and the Grants both observed that birds with larger beaks special-
ize in dry, tough seeds, but their explanations for this observation differed.
C. The Grants' conclusion that beak size was passed down from parent to off-
spring supported Darwin's hypothesis that evolution had shaped the beaks of
Galapagos finches.
D. David Lack was unable to confirm Darwin's hypothesis because his study oc-
curred during a wet year, when finches feed on the same type of seed.
E. The Grants attempted to study how evolution worked by examining the
changes in average beak size during wet years and dry years.
F. The most recent research on Galapagos finches suggests that evolutionary fac-
tors are less significant today than they were for ancestral finches.

answers:
B A C C D B D A B CDE