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Science 11 January 2002:
Vol. 295. no. 5553, pp. 249 - 250
DOI: 10.1126/science.295.5553.249a
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News of the Week

EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY:
Finches Adapt Rapidly to New Homes

Elizabeth Pennisi

A study of house finches, reported on page 316 of this issue of Science, has demonstrated that in just 30 years, finches newly settled in Montana and Alabama begin to look and act quite different from each other, despite being close kin. The researchers have also shown that these flourishing avian pioneers improve their chances of success in part by controlling the sex of their eggs as they lay them. In this way, mothers influence the size of their offspring, an important survival trait.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)