Drought 1: A Case Study

The trait variation of having a beak of more depth turned out to be advantageous in Drought 1 and helped the finches’ fitness because it was easier for the larger beaks to pick through the AstroTurf for big seeds than for the smaller beaks. The beaks of more depth were inherited by finches in the next generation. In Drought 1 the finches with small (smaller in depth) beaks managed to collect and crush a total of 0 large seeds in Group 1. The large beaked finches (larger in depth) for Group 1 were able to collect and crush 18 large seeds in total. The finches with small beaks in Group 2, were also unsuccessful in collecting and crushing a total of any large seeds, but the large beaked finches of Group 2 managed to accumulate and crush a sum …show more content…
Group 4’s large beaked finches were able to collect and crush 32 large seeds in total. The small beaked finches in group 5, like in Group 3, were able to collect and crush a sum of 6 large seeds. Group 5 also had large beaked finches than collected and crushed 25 total large seeds. Group 6, similar to Groups 1 and 2, had small beaked finches who managed collect 0 large seeds in total. In Group 6, the large beaked finches collected more total large seeds than the rest of the Groups. The Group 6 large beaked finches collected a sum of 43 large seeds. The large beaks collected the largest average number of all large seeds in Drought 1. According to the Class Data, the small beaked finches collected and crushed less than 80% of its minimum food limit and died. The finches with larger beaks were not precise enough to pick up small seeds, but they could crack open large seeds with ease. The small beaked birds had a difficult time collecting and cracking open the large seeds. The large beaked finches in Group 1 for Drought 1 were able to collect and crush more seeds than the small beaked birds because the big seeds were meant to be eaten by the large …show more content…
The group 5 small beak finches were also as strong as in Group 3, but the large beak finches still outpowered the small beaks and were able to collect much more large seeds. Lastly, Group 6 finches with small beaks were as weak as the ones in Group 1 and 2. The large beaked finches for Group 6 were the strongest out of all the groups. The reasons the physical characteristic of having a beak of more depth was more beneficial to the fitness of finches in Drought 1 was the larger beaked finches were better able to gain enough power from their beaks to break open the large seeds, while it was harder to gain such power from small beaks. Also, the larger beaks could better grip the bigger sized seeds and had an easier time picking them off the AstroTurf than the smaller beaks. Lastly, the selective pressure of having a drought where there are different sized seeds available for different kinds of bird beak sizes, made small seeds more scarce in the first place. Once the smaller seeds disappeared, finches had to move on to larger seeds that needed to be cracked open, and it was not easy for all beaks. Varying traits of finches can prove to be beneficial or