The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time
Detailed narrative of the Grants' field research
Pulitzer Prize-winning account of Peter and Rosemary Grant's research on Darwin's finches. Accessible narrative of how the 1977 and 1983 climate events drove rapid evolutionary changes in beak morphology, providing direct observation of natural selection in action.
Key Findings from Weiner & Weiner (1994)
- Detailed narrative of the Grants' field research
- Documents both 1977 drought and 1983 El Niño effects on finch populations
- Shows evolution operating in real-time, not just geological time
- Evolution documented in real time across researcher lifetimes
- Beak size changes 4% per generation under selection pressure
- Selection can reverse when environmental conditions change
- Today's finch populations differ significantly from 40 years ago
- Evolution is observable in real time with precise measurements
- Environmental shifts (drought vs. wet years) flip which traits are selected for
- The 2003-2004 drought showed opposite selection pressure when large ground finches competed for resources
Used in 3 chapters
See how this research informs the book's frameworks:
Accessible narrative of how 1977 and 1983 climate events drove rapid evolutionary changes in beak morphology - direct observation of natural selection.
See selection in real time →Made the Grants' research accessible, demonstrating evolution isn't ancient history - it's happening now, measurably.
See observable selection pressure →Pulitzer Prize-winning narrative providing compelling evidence that selection pressure creates rapid, observable change when environmental conditions shift.
See rapid adaptation dynamics →