Today there are now at least thirteen species of finches on the Galapagos Islands and all of them evolved from one ancestral species, which colonized the islands a few million years ago. What steps lead to speciation and a diverse range of finch types?

Answers:

a.) The ancestral finch was a ground-dwelling, seed-eating finch.

b.) The ecological niches throughout the islands exert selection pressures that push specific birds in various directions.

c.) In the original population of finches, variations existed.

f.) Different physical traits helped certain finches survive in certain niches, eating specific food.

step 1 ammonium can be absorbed by plants, but some is converted into nitrates which are better for plants to absorb. this is called nitrification. 2. step 2 the deer eats the plants and uses the nitrogen-containing proteins for cell growth. 3. step 3 bacteria in the soil conduct nitrogen fixation to convert nitrogen gas from the atmosphere into ammonium. 4. step 4 some of the nitrates are absorbed back into plants, but denitrification breaks down the nitrates into nitrogen gas released back into the atmosphere. 5. step 5 nitrogen is found in the urine, which gets broken down into ammonium through the process of ammonification. 6. step 6 plants absorb the ammonium and begin assimilation, the process to add the nitrogen to protein.