Peter Grant, a Princeton University professor whose studies of the Galapagos Islands finches is considered a masterpiece of evolutionary ecology, will give two public lectures at the University of California, Davis, on Monday, Feb. 3, and Wednesday, Feb. 5. With wife Rosemary Grant, he has conducted fieldwork on the Galapagos Islands every year since 1973. Their work is profiled in the Pulitzer prize-winning book "The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time," by Jonathan Weiner. "The Grants are leaders of this field," Weiner writes. Their work on Darwin's finches is "one of the most intensive and valuable animal studies ever conducted in the wild. It is the best and most detailed demonstration to date of the power of Darwin's process." Below is a schedule of Grant's lectures, which are sponsored by the campus Section of Evolution and Ecology and the Division of Biological Sciences and supported through the endowed Tracy and Ruth Storer Lectureship in the Life Sciences. The Storer lectures are free and open to the public. --"The Adaptive Radiation of Darwin's Finches," 5:10 p.m. Monday, Feb. 3, in 1100 Social Sciences and Humanities Building. --"Genetics and the Origin of Bird Species," 5:10 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5, in 1100 Social Sciences and Humanities Building. The Grants' research combines an interest in speciation and the evolution of 13 species of Darwin's finches, with a detailed, long-term study of four species on one island. Established in 1960, the Tracy and Ruth Storer Lectureship in the Life Sciences invites distinguished scientists from other institutions to participate in the UC Davis academic community. For more information, the public should contact the Division of Biological Sciences, (916) 752-4460, or look under "seminars and events" at http://www.dbs.ucdavis.edu/.