Which naturalist traveled extensively and developed the theory of evolution by natural selection, drawing on studies of finches in the Galapagos Islands?

• A. Wallace
• B. Lyell
• C. Huxley
• D. Darwin

Answer: (D)

The idea being tested is how Darwin linked extensive travel and careful observation to the explanation of how new species arise, using the Galapagos finches as a key example. Darwin’s voyage around the world, especially his time studying the Galapagos Islands, gave him firsthand evidence that related species can vary in meaningful ways across different environments. The finches on these islands showed different beak shapes adapted to specific food sources, illustrating how natural selection can favor traits that improve survival and reproduction in a given environment. Over many generations, such selective pressures can lead to divergence and the emergence of new species, which Darwin synthesized into the theory of evolution by natural selection. While Alfred Russel Wallace independently conceived a theory of natural selection, the finch observations from the Galapagos are uniquely associated with Darwin’s development of the idea. The other figures are influential in related contexts—Lyell in geology and Huxley in advocacy of Darwin’s ideas—but the Galapagos finch work specifically anchors Darwin’s explanation of how evolution proceeds.