Question

Bud eaters share a common ancestor with insect eaters. If an insect-eating species shares more phylogenetic traits with the vegetarian finch, what kind of phylogenetic relation do the two share?

If a species of ground finch with variation in beak size suddenly had to all compete for large hard seeds, what kind of selection would occur on the species?

Answer 1

If an insect-eating species shade more phylogenetic traits with vegetarian finch, it indicates that they share a recent common ancestor. The two species could be sister taxa to each other.

If a species of ground finch, has to compete for large hard seeds, it will go under natural selection.

Here in this case, the species would like to undergo directional selection, which favours one of the extreme.