---- "Manuel Spínola" <mspinol...@gmail.com> wrote: > Imagine > testing the hypothesis of past competition on Darwin finches under the > H-D method. How do you falsify that hypothesis using a "critical > experiment" as the H-D followers call it?
Please feel free to correct me for misunderstanding or misinterpretation. Did not the Grant's do exactly that, using a natural experiment (periods of drought interspersed with periods of abundant rainfall) regarding beak structure, differing availability of foods in different conditions, and breeding success with at least one of the finch species? Was there some hybridization involved as well? Of course, the work did not test "past competition" directly, but certainly provides the strongest of support, unless I simply fail to understand. I don't have the references at hand, but a search should reveal them. mcneely
