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Natural Selection: Bird Seeds of Change
Beginning of article
Natural selection: Bird seeds of change
A legacy of the 1983 El Nino is grantingevolutionary biologists the rare opportunity to test the central tenet of their field: the theory of natural selection. As part of a long-term study that began in 1973, these scientists are monitoring how El Ninos and other climate shifts forced changes within a population of finches on the Galapagos islands.
Two researchers report in the June 11NATURE that the eight months of extraordinarily heavy rainfall during that El Nino led to the differential survival of smaller birds for the two subsequent years. Earlier, parts of this study had demonstrated that periods of drought promoted the …
