Princeton University Press
40 Years of Evolution
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About this book
An important look at a groundbreaking forty-year study of Darwin's finches
Renowned evolutionary biologists Peter and Rosemary Grant have produced landmark studies of the Galápagos finches first made famous by Charles Darwin. In How and Why Species Multiply, they offered a complete evolutionary history of Darwin's finches since their origin almost three million years ago. Now, in their richly illustrated new book, 40 Years of Evolution, the authors turn their attention to events taking place on a contemporary scale. By continuously tracking finch populations over a period of four decades, they uncover the causes and consequences of significant events leading to evolutionary changes in species.
The authors used a vast and unparalleled range of ecological, behavioral, and genetic data—including song recordings, DNA analyses, and feeding and breeding behavior—to measure changes in finch populations on the small island of Daphne Major in the Galápagos archipelago. They find that natural selection happens repeatedly, that finches hybridize and exchange genes rarely, and that they compete for scarce food in times of drought, with the remarkable result that the finch populations today differ significantly in average beak size and shape from those of forty years ago. The authors' most spectacular discovery is the initiation and establishment of a new lineage that now behaves as a new species, differing from others in size, song, and other characteristics. The authors emphasize the immeasurable value of continuous long-term studies of natural populations and of critical opportunities for detecting and understanding rare but significant events.
By following the fates of finches for several generations, 40 Years of Evolution offers unparalleled insights into ecological and evolutionary changes in natural environments.
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Frontmatter
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Contents
ix -
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Illustrations
xvii -
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Tables
xxiii -
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Boxes
xxv -
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Preface
xxvii - PART 1. Early Problems, Early Solutions
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1. Speciation, Adaptive Radiation, And Evolution
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2. Daphne Finches: A Question of Size
17 -
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3. Heritable Variation
41 -
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4. Natural Selection And Evolution
55 -
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5. Breeding Ecology And Fitness
77 - PART 2. Developing a Long-Term Perspective
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6. A Potential Competitor Arrives on Daphne
103 -
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7. Competition and Character Displacement
122 -
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8. Hybridization
138 -
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9. Variation and Introgression
166 - PART 3. Hybridization and Speciation
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10. Long-Term Trends in Hybridization
183 -
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11. Long-Term Trends in Natural Selection
205 -
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12. Speciation
229 -
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13. Speciation by Introgressive Hybridization
245 - PART 4. Syntheses
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14. The Future of Finches on Daphne
271 -
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15. Themes and Issues
287 -
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16. Generalization
300 -
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17. Epilogue
310 -
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Coda
319 -
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Appendixes
321 -
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Abbreviations
341 -
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Glossary
343 -
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References
353 -
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Subject Index
389