Comments on: Idaho: New Bird Species Discovered

By: shumway10973

shumway10973 — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 22:24:28 +0000

I remember hearing that some of the species of finches Darwin observed numbers dwindled and now more than one specie of finch is cross breeding. I might have missed it above, but are there no other birds that at least attempt getting the pine nuts?

By: vaughan

vaughan — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 17:01:29 +0000

A similar species split happened with the Common Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra) and the Scottish Crossbill (Loxia scotia) a few years ago here in the UK.

The ‘new’ Scottish Crossbill is Britain’s only endemic bird species.

By: fuzzy

fuzzy — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 14:08:03 +0000

Survival of the “beakiest”.

Imagine what those seeds and birds will look like in one thousand years, as the trees continue to develop stronger defenses and the birds keep exhibiting ever more powerful beaks and associated musculature.

Ten thousand years?

By: verkaufsagent

verkaufsagent — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 08:16:27 +0000

Thats what i search,thanks JustinC

By: JustinC

JustinC — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 02:22:55 +0000

I have heard of that sort of specialization before. I think it is amazing. But I guess it is just a matter of the ones that cannot perform the task (for instance removing of fortified conifer seeds) in the specialized area either dying off or moving on. I mean they don’t really change for the task or environment, just that more with longer beaks survive, eventually the area only supports birds “with beak enough” for surviving. Very cool.

By: heinselman

heinselman — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 22:56:01 +0000

The paper in its entirety can be viewed freely at "A Coevolutionary Arms Race Causes Ecological Speciation in Crossbills." While over there take a look at "Are Species Adapted to Their Regeneration Niche, Adult Niche, or Both?" by Lourens Poorter and "Clade Age and Not Diversification Rate Explains Species Richness among Animal Taxa" by Mark A. McPeek and Jonathan M. Brown. Both these are interesting looks at species and taxonomic creations, status and breakouts. Craig Heinselman Peterborough, NH

By: Bob Michaels

Bob Michaels — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 22:44:46 +0000

Darwin at work, perhaps more finches will be recognized as separate species.