Laboratory Activity Evolution of Birds Beaks and Feet

  The process of Evolution can result in the establishment of new species as forces such as Natural Selection work to ‘select’ against traits an organism possesses that do not positively affect survival or reproduction. The appearance of a bird′s beak and feet can tell us much about their habitat and lifestyle – these features shaped by many thousands of generations of Evolution and Natural Selection. Most birds are even classified according to structural similarities between their beaks and feet. In this exercise, you will look at pictures of birds and make inferences about their lifestyles.