Ecology and evolution of Darwin's finches

Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1999. Second printing, first paperback printing. Paperback. Very very mild rolling to spine. Small ink mark to top edge of text block. Else pages clean and binding tight. Near fine.. Paperback cream quarto. xx, 492 pages : illustrations (some color), maps ; 25 cm. With a new foreword by Jonathan Weiner ; with a new preface and afterword. || Abstract: After his famous visit to the Galápagos Islands, Darwin speculated that "one might fancy that, from an original paucity of birds in this archipelago, one species had been taken and modified for different ends." This book is the classic account of how much we have since learned about the evolution of these remarkable birds. Based upon over a decade's research, Grant shows how interspecific competition and natural selection act strongly enough on contemporary populations to produce observable and measurable evolutionary change. In this new edition, Grant outlines new discoveries made in the thirteen years since the book's publication. Ecology and Evolution of Darwin's Finches is an extraordinary account of evolution in action. || Contents: Introduction -- Characteristics of the islands -- General characteristics and distribution of finches -- Patterns of morphological variation -- Growth and development -- Beak sizes, beak shapes, and diets -- The importance of food to finch populations -- Population variation and natural selection -- Species-recognition and mate choice -- Evolution and speciation -- Ecological interactions during speciation -- Competition and finch communities -- The evolution of reproductive isolation -- Adaptation : body size, plumage coloration, and other traits -- Reconstruction of phylogeny -- Recapitulation and generalization.; Latin America Cruise. || Finches -- Evolution -- Galapagos Islands.