- Daphne Major
Daphne Major is a volcanic
island just north of Santa Cruz Island and just west of the Baltra Airport in the archipelago Colon, commonly known as theGalápagos Islands . It consists of atuff crater, devoid of trees, whose rim rises 120 metres above the sea.Though easily accessible to most visitors to the Galapagos, the national park has highly restricted visits to this island and it is primarily used as a scientific research spot. An intensive study of
Darwin's Finches was conducted here by biologistsPeter and Rosemary Grant over a period of 20 years. They examined the behaviour and life cycles of finches, with the results strongly supporting Darwin's theory ofevolution their efforts were documented in the Pulitzer Prize winning bookThe Beak of the Finch .Daphne is home to a variety of other birds including
Galápagos Martin s,Blue-footed Booby ,Masked Booby ,Short-eared Owl s,Red-billed Tropicbird s andMagnificent Frigatebird s.References
* [http://cwx.prenhall.com/bookbind/pubbooks/stiling4/chapter1/essay13/deluxe-content.html Drought and the Demography of Darwin’s Medium Ground Finches on Isla Daphne Major] , Wendy E. Sera, Baylor University. Accessed
2007-04-21 .
*Peter R. Grant and B. Rosemary Grant. 1992. Demography and the genetically effective sizes of two populations of Darwin’s finches. "Ecology" 73(3): 766–784.
*Jonathan Weiner . 1994. "". New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. ISBN 0-679-40003-6.External links
* [http://www.galapagosonline.com/Islands/islands/Daphne/Daphne.html Daphne Island Information]
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