Watching Evolution Happen in Two Lifetimes

This is an excellent article for those of you who don't have a clue as to what real scientists do in the field. It would be worth your time to read it and learn something.


The biologists Rosemary and Peter Grant have spent four decades on a tiny island in the Galápagos. Their discoveries reveal how new animal species can emerge in just a few generations.



When Rosemary and Peter Grant first set foot on Daphne Major, a tiny island in the Galápagos archipelago, in 1973, they had no idea it would become a second home. The husband and wife team, now emeritus biology professors at Princeton University, were looking for a pristine environment in which to study evolution. They hoped that the various species of finches on the island would provide the perfect means for uncovering the factors that drive the formation of new species.

The diminutive island wasn’t a particularly hospitable place for the Grants to spend their winters. At less than one-hundredth the size of Manhattan, Daphne resembles the tip of a volcano rising from the sea. Visitors must leap off the boat onto the edge of a steep ring of land that surrounds a central crater. The island’s vegetation is sparse. Herbs, cactus bushes and low trees provide food for finches — small, medium and large ground finches, as well as cactus finches — and other birds. The Grants brought with them all the food and water they would need and cooked meals in a shallow cave sheltered by a tarp from the baking sun. They camped on Daphne’s one tiny flat spot, barely larger than a picnic table.

www.quantamagazine.org...

originally posted by: Phantom423
This is an excellent article for those of you who don't have a clue as to what real scientists do in the field. It would be worth your time to read it and learn something.


The biologists Rosemary and Peter Grant have spent four decades on a tiny island in the Galápagos. Their discoveries reveal how new animal species can emerge in just a few generations.

When Rosemary and Peter Grant first set foot on Daphne Major, a tiny island in the Galápagos archipelago, in 1973, they had no idea it would become a second home. The husband and wife team, now emeritus biology professors at Princeton University, were looking for a pristine environment in which to study evolution. They hoped that the various species of finches on the island would provide the perfect means for uncovering the factors that drive the formation of new species.

The diminutive island wasn’t a particularly hospitable place for the Grants to spend their winters. At less than one-hundredth the size of Manhattan, Daphne resembles the tip of a volcano rising from the sea. Visitors must leap off the boat onto the edge of a steep ring of land that surrounds a central crater. The island’s vegetation is sparse. Herbs, cactus bushes and low trees provide food for finches — small, medium and large ground finches, as well as cactus finches — and other birds. The Grants brought with them all the food and water they would need and cooked meals in a shallow cave sheltered by a tarp from the baking sun. They camped on Daphne’s one tiny flat spot, barely larger than a picnic table.

www.quantamagazine.org...

Just goes to show how short a time is needed for evolution and not millions and billions of years as we have been taught.

a reply to: ChesterJohn

Just goes to show you have approximately 0% understanding of evolution.

a reply to: GetHyped

Maybe so, but I do now a lot about breeding birds and similar families of birds will cross bread and create a new variety but not a new species.

I do know that the standard teaching of the theory goes that it takes millions and billions of years and then of late many claim it takes very short time that is why no transitional species evident in the fossil record.

a reply to: ChesterJohn

en.wikipedia.org...

Maybe if you want to create your own argument you should do a quick google search first.

a reply to: ChesterJohn

I rest my case.

Should you consider educating yourself on the topic:

scienceline.ucsb.edu...
biologos.org...
www.agiweb.org...

originally posted by: ChesterJohn

originally posted by: Phantom423
This is an excellent article for those of you who don't have a clue as to what real scientists do in the field. It would be worth your time to read it and learn something.


The biologists Rosemary and Peter Grant have spent four decades on a tiny island in the Galápagos. Their discoveries reveal how new animal species can emerge in just a few generations.

When Rosemary and Peter Grant first set foot on Daphne Major, a tiny island in the Galápagos archipelago, in 1973, they had no idea it would become a second home. The husband and wife team, now emeritus biology professors at Princeton University, were looking for a pristine environment in which to study evolution. They hoped that the various species of finches on the island would provide the perfect means for uncovering the factors that drive the formation of new species.

The diminutive island wasn’t a particularly hospitable place for the Grants to spend their winters. At less than one-hundredth the size of Manhattan, Daphne resembles the tip of a volcano rising from the sea. Visitors must leap off the boat onto the edge of a steep ring of land that surrounds a central crater. The island’s vegetation is sparse. Herbs, cactus bushes and low trees provide food for finches — small, medium and large ground finches, as well as cactus finches — and other birds. The Grants brought with them all the food and water they would need and cooked meals in a shallow cave sheltered by a tarp from the baking sun. They camped on Daphne’s one tiny flat spot, barely larger than a picnic table.

www.quantamagazine.org...

Just goes to show how short a time is needed for evolution and not millions and billions of years as we have been taught.

If I were you, my gripe would be with whoever taught you biology as opposed to the actual science involved in evolutionary biology because the time scales you imply aren't quite accurate.

Or perhaps you only read the OP and not the actual article? Because it's pretty clear in the article that the impetus for the pace of speciation in the Galapagos was a genetic bottleneck that occurred after a major drought killed off a majority of the finches in 1977.

Episodes of Punctuated Equilibrium typically occur after a genetic bottleneck event. A major example of this is 66 MA after the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction that killed off the dinosaurs and allowed mammals to become the dominant form of life on Earth.

Another example of a genetic bottleneck kickstarting things occurred after the Toba eruption 70 KA nearly killed off all of the Homo Sapiens and played a role in the decline of Neanderthal and H. Altaiensis. It was shortly after this event that HSS began their journey out of Africa and began colonizing every continent save for Antarctica.

Another thing, there are multitudes of "transitional fossils" in the geologic record. Every single living being is a transitional fossil. Just some food for thought.

a reply to: Phantom423

This is a nice story, really is. I've known about this extraordinary couple for quite some time now...

However since this is evolutionary science, I wonder why you would've posted this in the creationist forum – unless you're trying to pick the same old fight again?

originally posted by: GetHyped
a reply to: ChesterJohn

I rest my case.

Should you consider educating yourself on the topic:

scienceline.ucsb.edu...
biologos.org...
www.agiweb.org...

Did you mean to cite a creationist website in that list?
biologos.org...

originally posted by: PhotonEffect
a reply to: Phantom423

This is a nice story, really is. I've known about this extraordinary couple for quite some time now...

However since this is evolutionary science, I wonder why you would've posted this in the creationist forum – unless you're trying to pick the same old fight again?

As I said in my original post, the article demonstrates how real scientists work in the field. It's how they acquire data, conduct experiments, ask questions, seek new knowledge. The subject itself is straight forward - evolution is a fact. No need to pick a fight about something that most people accept and understand. The details of evolution involve every branch of science.

The naysayers on this board generally ask questions that show no interest/knowledge in real science. The uranium discussion, which has been bantered around ad infinitum, is a case in point. There must be a thousand links on the internet to universities, science websites, math websites - you name it - that explain how it works. Peter gave an explanation. I posted relevant citations. But the question still comes up out of the blue like it's something that no one has ever thought of before!

Learning curves. Some are parabolic, some are flat. Probably in the genes.