Approximately what percentage of the birds with the most common beak depth in 1976 (your answer to question 10b) survived the drought? (show your work)
Answers
Answer:
12th
Biology
Evolution
What is Adaptive Radiation?
The medium ground finch is ...
BIOLOGY
The medium ground finch is a species of bird endemic to the Galapagos Islands that eats by cracking seeds open with their beaks to obtain the food inside. Finch beak size (depth) is controlled by the BMP4 gene, which produces a growth factor known as bone morphogenic protein. In 1977 the Galapagos Islands experienced an intense drought, which severely reduced the population of small seeds and the plants that produced them.
Figure 1 above illustrates the changes in the distributions of finch beak depths (size) before and after the drought of 1
ANSWER
During drought as the amount of food that the finches ate decreased which made the finches to choose other available resources of food . This led to a change in the beak shape,that became more deeper, an adaptation and natural selection to feed upon seeds that were hard to crack.
So, the correct answer is 'Finches with larger beaks must have a higher degree of expression of the BMP4 gene, and are better adapted to cracking larger seeds and producing more surviving offspring'