Sorting Finch Species Click and Learn Name___________________________

Key Concepts:
- The 13 species of finches living on the Galapagos Islands evolved from a common
ancestor within the last 2-3 million years.
- Finches discriminate between members of their own species and those of a
closely related species based on song and appearance.
- A spectrogram is a visual representation of how sound frequencies change over
time. Similar songs generate similar spectrograms.
Questions
Read the information provided on the first screen of the Click and Learn and by clicking on the
“About Daphne Major” and “About Spectrograms” buttons. Then answer the questions below.

1. How do finches recognize members of their own species?

They can see by the song and there appearance
2. The Galapagos islands are considered to be “young” islands. Explain what this means.
They were recently formed compared to other land masses

3. The medium ground finch (​Geospiza fortis​) and the cactus finish (​Geospiza scandens​)
are similar in size and appearance.
a. As you can tell from their scientific names, they belong to different species. What
taxonomic ranks do they share?
genus
b. Which physical trait varies the most between these two species?
Their beak
c. The medium ground finch and the cactus finch are adapted to consume different
types of foods. Can you think of a situation in which the medium ground finches
would have a survival advantage over the cactus finches? A disadvantage?
The medium ground finch would have an advantage over the cactus finch when there is such a
deep drought even the cactuses die and or if the cactuses stopped giving a stable food supply.
Then medium finches would be in trouble if there was a shortage of seeds and only cactuses to
eat.

4. From the map, in what ocean are the Galapagos Islands found? Where are they in
relation to the United States?
South of the united states in the pacific

5. Zoom all the way into Daphne Major. Describe its appearance in two sentences.

It is very very small and it is the smallest out of all of them by far.

6. What is a spectrogram? What variables are on the x- and y-axes?

It shows us the change in sound waves over time, and x and y show the frequency.
Sorting Finch Species Click and Learn Name___________________________

7. Listen to the three examples of sound and related spectrogram. Make one observation
about each of the three spectrograms.
The first graph has thin lines that have high frequency and the second has bigger waves at a
lower frequency.
8. When do the finches on the Galapagos Islands learn their songs? From whom do they
learn their song?
They learn the song from their fathers at a young age while in the nest being fed.

Click on the “Get started!” button and answer the questions below as you proceed through the
Click and Learn.
9. How easy was it to sort finishes by song?
It was very difficult.

10. When the spectrograms were revealed, did you have to change the grouping of any of
the finches? Was it easier to sort by song or spectrogram?
Yes I had to change it but it was way easier with a spectrogram.

11. Did seeing the photos help you sort the finches? Explain why or why not.
Yes because it helped to see a pattern.

12. Did you change the grouping of any of the finches after zooming into the beak?
Yes because i could get a more detailed look at size and shape.

13. At the end of the exercise, which trait allowed you to more easily tell which birds
belonged to the same species? (The species name is not a trait!)
The break because I could see the similarities and differences.

Answer the two multiple-choice questions that appear in the window on the right then answer
the following questions
14. Explain why the offspring of a cactus finch and a medium ground finch would look like an
intermediate between the two birds, but the song would not be an intermediate.
Because they would have codominance and they would have the same song for whatever type
the dad is because the dad is the only one who sings.

15. Provide a possible explanation for why hybrids are rare and not as fit as either parent
species.
Hybrids are not as fit and they are rare because the different species are made in a way to fit a
significant environmental when you take some things off and put some on it doesn't really work