Taxacom: Galapagos

[John Grehan]

Below, June communication with R & P Grant re Galapagos finches. No
response (not surprisingly due to previous lack of response). This is a
world where alternatives do not exist.

John Grehan <calabar.john at gmail.com>
prgrant at princeton.edu rgrant at princeton.edu

Thu, Jun 6, 12:33 PM
to rgrant, prgrant

Dear colleagues,

I noticed in your ms "From Microcosm to Macrocosm: Adaptive Radiation of
Darwin’s Finches"  the following assertion: "At least 18 species evolved
from a common ancestor (Fig. 1) in the relatively short time of one to two
million years (Barker et al., 2015; Lamichhaney et al., 2015):"

While I acknowledge that this is your preferred evolutionary model, as you
know, there is alternative biogeographic evidence published in support of a
much older origin for these and other biota of the Galapagos - as you would
know from the copy of Heads & Grehan (2021) sent to you as a courtesy. But
while you may believe in a particular model, you present it as a statement
of fact rather than a preference. This is misleading as it gives the
impression that no scientific alternative exists. Surely, in the interests
of science and open exploration, the readership needs to know the context
of your belief. I would suggest as an open and honest declaration, that
your statement be modified to:  "At least 18 species evolved from a common
ancestor (Fig. 1) that we believe occured in a relatively short time of one
to two million years (Barker et al., 2015; Lamichhaney et al., 2015),
although older origins have been proposed from biogeographic evidence
(Heads & Grehan 2021):" Surely that is not too much to ask?

Regards,

John Grehan



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