Question

The shape of the heals of Darwin's finches, industrial melanism, or the changes in horse teeth are all examples of:
(A) Artificial selection
(B) Natural selection
(C) Convergent evolution
(D) Homologous structures

Answer 1

Hint:All these changes were observed in different time periods in different locations. Darwin's finches are an example of biogeographical evolution and thus natural selection as well as adaptive radiation. Industrial melanism is because natural selection took place due to the setting up of industries.
Step-by-step solution:

There are many generations involved in the process of evolution, which involves species of animals, plants, or insects gradually changing some of their physical traits. When an environmental shift makes new resources available or poses new environmental problems, a species splits into a number of new forms.
In order to eat the seeds available as food, finches in the Galapagos Islands, for instance, have evolved different shaped beaks, this is biogeographical evolution. These birds start from a point and radiate to all others so this shows adaptive radiation as well.
Artificial selection is the process of identifying desirable qualities in plants and animals and then taking action to strengthen and pass those traits on to succeeding generations. Artificial selection refers to the method by which humans choose for breeding particular organisms with specific phenotypic trait values. The selected characteristic will respond to selection, that is, it will develop if there is an additive genetic variance for the trait. So, option (A) is not correct.
A population's members are automatically different, which means that they are all different in some or the other ways. This variety indicates that some people have characteristics that are more appropriate according to the environment than others. This is what leads to natural selection. The specie which is a better fit than the other is adapted by the nature and is evolved further. Fitness according to Darwin was basically reproductive fitness only. The specie which reproduces better and more is more adapted by nature and thus is naturally selected.
Convergent evolution, as used in evolutionary biology, is the process through which dissimilarly related animals independently develop comparable features to meet comparable needs. When distinct organisms independently develop similar features, this is known as convergence in evolution. Advertisement. Skip the advertisement. Sharks and dolphins, for instance, resemble each other somewhat while being completely unrelated. So, option C is not correct.
Divergent evolution is the process through which various species with similar origins evolve distinct features in order to adapt to various environmental demands and conditions. An ancestor species radiates into a variety of successor species having both similar and dissimilar features, as seen in the case of Darwin's finches, which is a well-known and prominent example of divergent evolution.
So, option (B) is correct.
Note: Industrial melanism is the term used to describe the evolutionary change that occurs in a variety of animal species that inhabit habitats that have been darkened by industrial pollution, such as sulphur dioxide gas and dark soot deposits. These species' dark pigmentation, or melanism, has developed to help them blend in with their surroundings and avoid being seen by predators. and this is an example of natural selection. As explained above, darwin's finches is also an example of natural selection.