SS 170

READING PASSAGE 1

Answer Quesfions 1-13, which are based on Reading passage 1 on pages 2 and 3.

The continuing saga of the Galipagos Finches

Gald,pagos finches, the islarud birds that helped shape charles
Darutin's theory of euolution, are giuing scientists new insights iruto
how natural selection worh,s
In 1835, naturalist Charles Darwin arrived on ground finches
the Gal6pagos islands off the Pacific coast of had a high
South America. Observation of the islands' proportion of
many different species of finches inspired his individuals with
revolutionary theory of evolution, and set him large bills. The
on the quest that would consume him for the Grants had
rest of his life: the struggle to understand how documented
new species come into being. natural selection
Today, that quest continues. On Daphne at work.
Major - one of the most desolate of the Eight years later, in 1985, heavy rain
Gal6pagos Islands - biologists Peter and transformed the normally meagre vegetation on
Rosemary Grant have speht more than three Daphne Major. Vines and other plants that in
decades watching Darwin's finches respond to most years struggle for survival suddenly
the challenges of storms, drought and flourished, choking out the plants that provide
competition for food. They know and large seeds for the finches. Small seeds came to
recognise many of the individual birds on the dominate the food supply, and medium ground
island and can trace the birds' lineages back finches with small bills dominated the next
through time. They have witnessed Darwin's generation to be born.
principle in action again and again, over many More recently, the Grants witnessed
generations of finches. another form ofnatural selection acting on the
The Grants'most dramatic insights have medium ground finch: competition from bigger,
come from watching the evolving bill (hard stronger cousins. In 1982, the large ground
mouth part) of the medium ground finch finch (geospiza magnirosfrls) came to live on
(geospizafol//s). Its bill is a middling example Daphne Major. Over the next 20 years the two
in the array of shapes and sizes found among species coexisted, with the medium ground
Gal6pagos finches: larger than that of the small finch sharing its supply of large seeds rvith the
ground finch (geospiza fuliginosa), which bigger-billed newcomer. Then, in2002 and
specialises in eating small, soft seeds, but not as 2003, there was another drought. None of the
big as that of the large ground frnch (geospiza birds nested that year, and many died out.
magnirostris), an expert at cracking and Medium ground finches with large bills,
devouring big, hard seeds. crowded out of feeding areas by the more
When the Grants began their study in the powerful large ground finches, were hit
1970s, only two species of finch lived on particularly hard. When wetter weather
Daphne Major - the medium ground finch and returned in2004, and the finches nested again,
the cactus finch (geospiza scandens). When a the new generation of medium ground finches
severe drought hit in 1977, the last of the small was again dominated by birds with smaller
seeds were soon devoured, and the members of bills, able to survive on smaller seeds. This
the medium ground finch population who situation, says Peter Grant, marked the first
lacked the bill strength to crack large seeds time that biologists have been able to follow the
soon died out. Bill and body size are inherited complete process of an evolutionary change due
traits, and the next generation of medium to competition between species.
 3

On the island of Santa Cruz, just south of

Daphne Major, Andrew Hendry of McGill
University and Jeffrey podos of the University
of Massachusetts at Amherst have discovered a
new, man-made twist in finch evolution. Their
study focused on birds living near the Academy
Bay research station, on the fringe of the town
of Puerto Ayora. The human population of the
area had been growing fast since the late 1960s.
Academy Bay finch records dating back to
the early 1960s show that medium ground
finches captured there had either small or large
bills. Very few of the birds had medium billi.
The finches appeared to be in the early stages
of a new adaptive radiation: if the trend had
continued, the medium ground finch on Santa
Cruz could have split into two distinct
subspecies specialising in different types of
seeds. But in the late 1960s and early 70s,
medium ground finches with medium bills
began to thrive along with small- and large-
billed birds. The townspeople had introduced
new food sources, such as rice, which they put
in bird feeding stations. Bill size, once critical
to the finches' survival, no longer made any
difference.
At a control site on Santa Cruz, distant
from Puerto Ayora, and relatively untouched by
humans, Hendry and Podos noted that the
medium ground finch population remained split
between large- and small-billed birds. On such
undisturbed parts of the island there is no
ecological niche for a medium-billed bird, and
the birds continue to diversify. In town,
however, once-distinct populations of finches
are merging.
The finches of Santa Cruz demonstrate a
subtle process in which human meddling can
halt evolution in its tracks, ending the formation
of new species. In a time when global
biodiversity continues its downhill slide,
Darwin's finches have yet another unexpected
lesson to teach. 'If we hope to regain some of
the diversity that's already been lost,'Hendry
says, 'we need to protect not just existing
creatures, but also the processes that drive the
origin of new species.'
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Quesfions 7 -I
Complete the table below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 1-8 on yciur answer sheet.

lmpact on next
Location and Resulting change to generation of
year Occurrence
food supply medium ground
finches
Daphne Major, Drought Shortage More birds
1977 of 1 ... ... ... with 2
Daphne Major, Dense vegetation Lack of plants Domination of birds
1 985 caused by producing 4..... with 5
unusually 3 ... ... ... .

Daphne Major, 6.. Competition for food Higher proportion of

2002- 2003 from immigrant finch birds with smaller
species bills
Santa Cruz, late Rapid expansion of lntroduction of new lncrease in number
1960s onw'ards the human population foods, eg 7 ... ... ... ... at of birds
bird feeding stations with 8

Quesfions I- 13

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?

ln boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicfs fhe information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

I The Grants'observations brought Darwin's ideas into question.

10 The GalSpagos cactus finch is less affected by variations in food supply than the
medium ground finch.

11 All types of ground finches on Daphne Major were affected by the adverse weather
conditions in 2002 and 2003.

12 Hendry and Podos observed the same changes in finch population throughout the
island of Santa Cruz.

13 There is evidence to suggest that the course of species diversification on Santa Cruz
has been altered.