eagerstudent082

Thank you very much for helping me out. I think I'm getting a much clearer understanding of the concepts here.

It is harder for island populations to adapt because the variation needed may not be there... Forgive me for asking, as I know how this question will sound, but I am asking simply to gain a better understanding. The finches observed on the isolated Galapagos islands, observed by Darwin, were very well adapted. I always assumed that it was just one original species of finch which "evolved" into the many he studied... this assumption must be wrong. Or... is there something I am missing here?

I am a new student to the world of genetics. Is there anything wrong with what I have written below? Variation within the genepool exists; giving a species the ability to adapt to its environment. For example most known birds have beaks of various shapes and sizes. The exact shape and size is determined by the alleles contained within a species' genotype. If a smaller, longer, beak is more beneficial to a certain species, within a certain environment, then this phenotype has the potential to become the favorable heritable trait. Note: Go easy on me. As I said before, I am very new to this area of science.