As their only food source, the birds find the plant seeds quite delectable. However, while small-beaked birds do very well consuming the smaller seeds, and large-beaked birds thrive on the larger seeds, birds with intermediate beak size are not good at consuming either size seed, and they struggle to get sufficient nutrition. What type of selection might we predict over the course of multiple generations of these birds?

Question

Social Studies

Helen Clark

25 April, 22:53

As their only food source, the birds find the plant seeds quite delectable. However, while small-beaked birds do very well consuming the smaller seeds, and large-beaked birds thrive on the larger seeds, birds with intermediate beak size are not good at consuming either size seed, and they struggle to get sufficient nutrition. What type of selection might we predict over the course of multiple generations of these birds?

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Xzavier Estes · Answer 1

The type of selection that we can predict over the course of multiple generations of these birds is the disruptive selection.

Explanation:

In nature specific adaptations (to different environments and foods, for example) are more beneficial to a species in order to developed and perform a certain way to thrive in their environment. The disruptive selection is a model of natural selection that doesn't select the average individual in a population, or in this case: the birds with the intermediate beak size thus they are the ones most likely to disappear.