Ecology and Evolution of Darwin's Finches

TLDR

Darwin’s Galapagos visit sparked speculation that a single ancestral bird diversified into the finches we see today, and subsequent research has revealed extensive evolutionary change in this group. The new edition presents discoveries made over thirteen years following the original publication. Grant demonstrates that interspecific competition and natural selection drive measurable evolutionary change in contemporary finch populations.

Abstract

After his famous visit to the Galapagos Islands, Darwin speculated that might fancy that, from an original paucity of birds in this archipelago, one species had been taken and modified for different ends. This book is the classic account of how much we have since learned about the evolution of these remarkable birds. Based upon over a decade's research, Grant shows how interspecific competition and natural selection act strongly enough on contemporary populations to produce observable and measurable evolutionary change. In this new edition, Grant outlines new discoveries made in the thirteen years since the book's publication. Ecology and Evolution of Darwin's Finches is an extraordinary account of evolution in action.