Measurements of bill length in a population of seed-eating birds reveals two distinct groups: small-billed individuals feeding on soft-shelled seeds and large-billed individuals feeding on hard-shelled seeds.This bimodal distribution most likely resulted from
A)stabilizing selection.
B)natural selection.
C)directional selection.
D)disruptive selection.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Disruptive selection favors extreme traits over intermediate ones, leading to the formation of distinct subgroups within a population. In this case, the small-billed birds are better adapted to eat soft-shelled seeds, while the large-billed birds are better adapted to eat hard-shelled seeds, leading to the bimodal distribution in bill length.

Measurements of Bill Length in a Population of Seed-Eating Birds