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Science 1 March 1985:
Vol. 227. no. 4690, pp. 1056 - 1059
DOI: 10.1126/science.227.4690.1056
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Articles

Ecological Character Displacement in Darwin's Finches

DOLPH SCHLUTER 1, TREVOR D. PRICE 2, and PETER R. GRANT 3

1 Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 2A9
2 Biology Department, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637
3 Division of Biological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109-1048

Character displacement resulting from interspecific competition has been extremely difficult to demonstrate. The problem was addressed with a study of Darwin's ground finches (Geospiza). Beak sizes of populations of G. fortis and G. fuliginosa in sympatry and allopatry were compared by a procedure that controls for any possible effects on morphology of variation among locations in food supply. The results provide strong evidence for character displacement. Measurement of natural selection in a population of G. fortis on an island (Daphne) lacking a resident population of G. fuliginosa shows how exploitation of G. fuliginosa foods affects the differential survival of G. fortis phenotypes.

Submitted on December 21, 1983
Accepted on October 18, 1984


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