Why and How Species Multiply: The Radiation of Darwin's Finches. 2007. 120 col. illustr. 46 line drawings. 3 tabs. 272 p. gr8vo. Cloth.

Explains what we have learned about the origin and evolution of newspecies through the study of the finches made famous by Charles Darwin:Darwin's finches. Traces the evolutionary history of fourteen differentspecies from a shared ancestor three million years ago. Shows how repeated cycles of speciation involved adaptive change through natural selection on beak size and shape, and divergence in songs. Explains other factors that drive finch evolution, including geographical isolation, which has kept the Galápagos relatively free of competitors and predators; climate change and an increase in the number of islandsover the last three million years, which enhanced opportunities forspeciation; and flexibility in the early learning of feeding skills,which helped species to exploit new food resources.