Becks of Finches

Base your answer(s) to the following question(s) on the diagram below and your knowledge of biology.  Which species of finch has an edge-crushing bill that can also probe into plants for food? 

• cactus finch 

• sharp-billed ground finch 

• warbler finch 

• large ground finch 

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Which characteristic is necessary for natural selection to occur in a species?

• stability 

• variation 

• complex cellular organization 

• a very low mutation rate 

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Base your answer to the following question on the finch diversity diagram below and on your knowledge of biology.  Warbler finches are classified as 

• producers 

• herbivores 

• carnivores 

• decomposers 

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NGSS.MS-LS4-2

Charles Darwin studied the finches of the Galapagos Islands and found that their beaks vary in shape. Darwin found that the finches that ate mostly insects had long, narrow beaks. Finches that ate mostly seeds had shorter, broad beaks that they used to crush seeds. Which statement below best describes how natural selection resulted in the four types of finches shown above?

• The narrow-beaked finches came first, and evolved into the broad-beaked finches through a series of natural mutations.

• The residents of the Galapagos Islands selectively bred finches that had the traits that the residents wanted them to have.

• The broad-beaked finches wore down their beaks digging for insects and passed these narrower beaks on to their offspring.

• Over time, the finches that were born with beaks better suited to the available food supply in their habitats survived and reproduced.

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Natural Selection is defined as-

• the process by which humans select the most desirable organisms in a population.

• the changes that occur in an organism over its lifespan.

• the changes that occur in a population that do not affect survival.

• the changes in the characteristics within a population that lead to survival

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A student completed two trials of the Beaks of Finches lab, each time picking up eleven seeds, as shown in this picture. If the student needs to collect an average of thirteen seeds to survive, how many seeds must he pick up in round 3? Record your answer in the space provided in the table below.

• 10

• 12

• 17

• 13

A student using a clothespin “beak” during the Beaks of Finches lab obtained the results shown in this picture. Over the course of the four trials, an average of at least 13 seeds must be “eaten” in order to go to the next round. Will the student go on? Support your answer

• The student will go on because the average is 13.

• The average is 15 and the student will go on.

• The student will not go on because the average = 12.

The top figure shows the beak depths of the 1976 finch population (red bars) before the drought, and the population after the drought (black bars). The lower figure shows the beak depths of the offspring of the drought survivors in 1978. What do these figures tell us?

• The average beak depth of the 1978 offspring population is larger than that of the original 1976 population.

• The finches that survived the drought (black bars in first graph) had offspring (red bars in second graph) with on average much larger beaks than their parents.

• The offspring (red bars in second graph) had a smaller range of beak depths - from smallest to largest - than their parents (black bars).

• The size of the offspring population in 1978 is much larger than the initial 1976 population, before the drought.

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Which finch has a grasping bill with biting tips?

• Medium Ground Finch

• Cactus Finch

• Woodpecker Finch

• Large Tree Finch

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The different beak variations found on different islands are the result of adaptations to what?

• Temperature

• Amount of Rainfall

• Different food sources

• Different nesting sites

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