Sara Hutchins

Anthropology 1020
Professor Melissa Schaefer Ph.D.
September 25, 2015
Anthropology Natural Selection Report:
But Did You Die?
In December of 1831, Charles Darwin would make an infamous journey on a ship known
as the HMS Beagle to the Galapagos Islands where he would collect 13 types of finches and
bring them back to England to study and forever alter the way we look at biological science.
Authors of Human Origins: Evolution and Diversity mention that while Darwin noticed
similarities in the finches while off the coast of Ecuador, it was not until he had returned home to
England that he realized just how similar the finches were in relation to one another as well as
how their beaks were shaped which appeared to be related to the foods they consumed, which is
a variable trait. This was the defining factor that started Darwins journey to creating the theory
of Natural Selection (Jurmain, Kilgore, Trevathan. 2013, pgs. 36, 37).
Fast-forward to today on the Galapagos Islands, the ancestors of those finches Darwin
took as specimens all those years ago are dying off at unprecedented rates because of a parasitic
fly known as the philornis downsi that was introduced into the ecosystem. Researches from the
Earthwatch Institute formed an expedition in order to research the finches and the effect the
philornis has on the evolutionary change of those finches in the Galapagos. Their research
consisted of capturing birds and taking genetic samples, recording migratory patterns, as well as
monitoring population changes which were dropping greatly because the philornis fly larvae was
killing off baby finches (Earthwatch.org, 2014). This in essence, is what Charles Darwins theory
of Natural Selection is all about. His theory suggests that desired or favorable traits are going to

persist and become more common over time in the population. This means that finches with
longer, slimmer beaks who mostly consume insects are going to have better chances of survival
and reproductive success in a habitat where insects are plentiful over finches with short, stubby
beaks who mostly consume seeds and fruits (Jurmain, Kilgore, Trevathan. 2013, pg. 37).
For our experiment we created a scenario where we replicated bird beaks by using
different tools to test the theory of Natural Selection. My hypothesis was that the tongs and chip
clips were going to increase in frequency or rather have better chances of reproductive success,
and that chopsticks would decrease in frequency or not have as great of reproductive success. I
formed this hypothesis after studying the instrument sizes, how they were shaped, and which
ones had a better chance of collecting the most food, which we replicated with sunflower seeds.
The breaks were recreated with everyday tools such as tongs, clothespins, chopsticks, tweezers,
hair-clips, chip-clips, and binder clips.
The goal was to test which tools or beaks could collect the most food, i.e. sunflower
seeds which were scattered across the table tops, and get them into a small cup in the allotted
amount of time. The three instruments to collect the least amount of seeds would die-off and
decrease in frequency where the top three instruments would reproduce and increase in
frequency, thereby supporting Darwins increase of favorable variations in a population theory.
During the experiment there were those of us who got competitive and started taking the food
sources of other finches, which illustrates competition of food sources which also attributes to
reproductive success.
The following is a table and graph illustrating the data we collected during this
experiment:

B
5
5

1
6
4

2
7
3

3
8
3

4
8
3

5
11
2

s
Chopsticks
Tweezers
Hair Clips
Chip Clips
Binder
Clips

5
5
5
5
2

3
6
5
6
2

2
6
5
8
1

1
4
5
10
1

1
4
4
12
0

0
4
4
11
0

TOTAL

32

32

32

32

32

32

Tongs
Clothespin

14
12
10
8
6
4

Tongs
Clothespins
Chopsticks
Tweezers
Hair Clips
Chip Clips
Binder Clips

2
0

The results of our data shows that the chip-clips and tongs increased in frequency while
the hairclips, and tweezers, stayed fairly consistent. The chopsticks, binder-clips, and clothespins
decreased in frequency until both the chopsticks and binder-clips became completely extinct.