INDUSTRIAL MELANISM

The darkness of the skin, feathers, or fur-acquired by a

population of animals living in an industrial region where the
environment is soot-darkened. The melanisation of a population
increases the probability that its members will survive and
reproduce; it takes place over the course of many generations
as the result of natural selection of the lighter, more
conspicuous animals by predators.
natural selection, process that results in the adaption of an
organism to its environment by means of selectively
reproducing changes in it genotype

A brief treatment of natural selection follows.

In natural selection, those variations in the genotype (the entire
complex of genes inherited from both parents) that increase an
organism’s chances of survival and procreation are preserved
and multiplied from generation to generation at the expense of
less advantageous variations. Evolution often occurs as a
consequences of f this process. Natural selection may arise
from differences in survival, in fertility, in rate of development,
in mating success, or in any other aspect of the life cycle such
differences result in natural selection to the extent that they
affect the number of progeny an organism leaves.
Gene frequencies tend to remain constant from generation to
generation when disturbing factors are not present. Factors that
disturb the natural equilibrium of gene frequencies include
mutation, migration (or gene flow), random gene drift, and
natural selection. A mutation is a spontaneous change in the
gene frequency that takes place in a population and occurs at a
low rate. Migration is a local change in gene frequency when an
individual moves from one population to another and then
interbreeds. Random genetic drift is a change that takes place
from one generation to another by a process of pure chance.
Mutation, migration, and genetic drift alter gene frequencies
without regard to whether such changes increase or decrease
the likelihood of an organism surviving and reproducing in its
environment. They are all random processes.
Natural selection moderates the disorganizing effects of these
processes because it multiplies the incidence of beneficial
mutations over the generations and eliminates harmful ones,
since their carriers leave few or no descendants. Natural
selection enhances the preservation of a group of organisms
that are best adjusted to the physical and biological conditions
of their environment and may also result in their improvement
in some cases. Some characteristics, such as the male
peacock’s tail, actually decrease the individual organism’s
chance of survival. To explain such anomalies, Darwin posed a
theory of “sexual selection.” In contrast to features that result
from natural selection, a structure produced by sexual selection
results in an advantage in the competition for mates.

PEPPERED MOTH
Peppered moth, (Biston betularia) has speckled black-and-
white wings. It is of significance in exemplifying natural
selection through industrial mechanism because the population
consists of two genetically controlled morphs: one light (very
little black spotting) and the other dark (heavy black spotting).
Prior to 1848 the peppered moth existed mainly as the white-
coloured morph. In 1848 a dark (melanic) morph of the
peppered moth was first noticed in Manchester, Eng. By 1898
this dark morph outnumbered the light-coloured morph by 99
to 1. The explanation of this phenomenon is that dark moths,
which originally were chance mutations, were highly visible to
predators when resting on lichen-covered trees during the day.
However, with the advent of pollution during the Industrial
Revolution coal soot covered the trees and killed the light-
coloured lichens. This rendered the dark moths on the trees
less conspicuous to bird predators than the previously cryptic
light moth, leading to increased predation of light moths and
reduced predation of dark moths. The difference in the colour
morphs is genetically controlled and of interest as a striking
example of rapid evolutionary change in a localized area.
Pollution is the addition of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas)
or any form of energy (such as heat, sound, or radioactivity) to
the environment at a rate faster than it can be dispersed,
diluted, decomposed, recycled, or stored in some harmless
form. The major kinds of pollution, usually classified by
environment, are air pollution, water pollution, and land
pollution. Modern society is also concerned about specific types
of pollutants, such as noise pollution, light pollution, and plastic
pollution. Pollution of all kinds can have negative effects on the
environment and wildlife and often impacts human health

HISTORY OF POLLUTION
Pollution the major kinds of pollution, usually classified by
environment, are air pollution, water pollution, and land
pollution. Modern society is also concerned about specific types
of pollutants, such as noise pollution, thermal pollution, light
pollution, and plastic pollution.
Although environmental pollution can be caused by natural
events such as forest fires and active volcanoes, use of the
word pollution generally implies that the contaminants have an
anthropogenic source—that is, a source created by human
activities. Pollution has accompanied humankind ever since
groups of people first congregated and remained for a long
time in any one place. Indeed, ancient human settlements are
frequently recognized by their wastes—shell mounds and
rubble heaps, for instance. Pollution was not a serious problem
as long as there was enough space available for each individual
or group. However, with the establishment of permanent
settlements by great numbers of people, pollution became a
problem, and it has remained one ever since.
Cities of ancient times were often noxious places, fouled by
human wastes and debris. Beginning about 1000 century, the
use of coal for fuel caused considerable air pollution, and the
conversion of coal to coke for iron smelting beginning in the
17th century exacerbated the problem. In Europe, from the
Middle Age well into the early modern era, unsanitary urban
conditions favoured the outbreak of population-decimating
epidemics of disease, from plague to cholera and typhoid fever.
Through the 19th century, water and air pollution and the
accumulation of solid wastes were largely problems of
congested urban areas. But, with the rapid spread of
industrialization and the growth of the human population to
unprecedented levels, pollution became a universal problem.
By the middle of the 20th century, an awareness of the need to
protect air, water, and land environments from pollution had
developed among the general public. In particular, the
publication in 1962 of Rachel Carson ’s book Silent Spring
focused attention on environmental damage caused by
improper use of pesticides such as DDT and other persistent
chemicals that accumulate in the food chain and disrupt the
natural balance of ecosystems on a wide scale. In response,
major pieces of environmental legislation, such as the Clean Air
Act (1970) and the Clean Water Act (1972; United States), were
passed in many countries to control and mitigate
environmental pollution.
Plastic pollution, including many single-use plastics like bags
and food packaging, in the ocean.
 The presence of environmental pollution raises the issue of
pollution control. Great efforts are made to limit the release of
harmful substances into the environment through air pollution
control, water waste treatment, solid waste management,
hazardous waste management, and recycling. Unfortunately,
attempts at pollution control are often surpassed by the scale
of the problem, especially unless developed countries. Noxious
levels of air pollution are common in many large cities. The
problem of plastic pollution on land and in the oceans has only
grown as the use of single-use plastics has burgeoned
worldwide. In addition, greenhouse gas emissions, such as
methane and carbon dioxide , continue to drive global warming
and pose a great threat to biodiversity and public health.

INDEX
INDUSTRIAL MELANISM

PERRERED MOTH

HISTORY OF POLLUTION

ADAPTION

THE STRUCTURE OF URBAN ECOSYSTEM

NATURAL SELECTION

SELECTIVE BREEDING

EVOLUTION
ADAPTATION
Adaptation, in biology, the process by which a species becomes
fitted to its environment; it is the result of natural selection’s
acting upon heritable variation over several generations.
Organisms are adapted to their environments in a great variety
of ways: in their structure, physiology, and genetics , in their
locomotion or dispersal, in their means of defence and attack,
in their reproduction and development, and in other respects.
Light grey peppered moth (Biston Betularia) A light grey
peppered moth (Biston Betularia) and a darkly pigmented
variant rest near each other on the trunk of a soot-covered oak
tree. Against this background, the light grey moth is more
easily noticed than the darker variant.
dark coloured peppered moth (Biston betularia) Against the
background of a lichen-covered oak tree, a darkly pigmented
peppered moth (Biston betularia) stands out, while the light
grey moth (left) remains inconspicuous.
The word adaptation does not stem from its current usage in
evolutionary biology but rather dates back to the early 17th
century, when it indicated a relation between design and
function or how something fits into something else. In biology
this general idea has been coopted so that adaptation has
three meanings. First, in a physiological sense, an animal or
plant can adapt by adjusting to its immediate environment—for
instance, by changing its temperature or metabolism with an
increase in altitude. Second, and more commonly, the word
adaptation refers either to the process of becoming adapted or
to the features of organisms that promote reproductive success
relative to other possible features. Here the process of
adaptation is driven by genetic variations among individuals
that become adapted to—that is, have greater success in—a
specific environmental context. A classic example is shown by
the melanistic (dark) phenotype of the peppered moth (Biston
betularia), which increased in numbers in Britain following the
Industrial Revolution as dark-coloured moths appeared cryptic
against soot-darkened trees and escaped predation by birds.
The process of adaptation occurs through an eventual change
in the gene frequency relative to advantages conferred by a
particular characteristic, as with the coloration of wings in the
moths.

adaptations. The habitat adaptations of walruses (thick skin to

protect against cold conditions), hippopotamuses (nostrils on
the top of the snout), and ducks (webbed feet).
The third and more popular view of adaptation is in regard to
the form of a feature that has evolved by natural selection for a
specific function. Examples include the long necks of giraffes
for feeding in the tops of trees, the streamlined bodies of
aquatic fish and mammals, the light bones of flying birds and
mammals, and the long daggerlike canine teeth of carnivores.

Giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) feeding in a

bamboo forest, Szechwan province, China.
All biologists agree that organismal traits commonly reflect
adaptations. However, much disagreement has arisen over the
role of history and constraint in the appearance of traits as well
as the best methodology for showing that a trait is truly an
adaptation. A trait may be a function of history rather than
adaptation. The so-called panda’s thumb, or radial sesamoid
bone, is a wrist bone that now functions as an opposable
thumb, allowing giant pandas to grasp and manipulate bamboo
stems with dexterity. The ancestors of giant pandas and all
closely related species, such as black bears, raccoons, and red
pandas, also have sesamoid bones, though the latter species
do not feed on bamboo or use the bone for feeding behaviour.
Therefore, this bone is not an adaptation for bamboo feeding.
The English naturalist Charles Darwin, in On the Origin of
Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859), recognized the
problem of determining whether a feature evolved for the
function it currently serves:
The sutures of the skulls of young mammals have been
advanced as a beautiful adaptation for aiding parturition [birth],
and no doubt they facilitate, or may be indispensable for this
act; but as sutures occur in the skulls of young birds and
reptiles, which only have to escape from a broken egg, we may
infer that this structure has arisen from the laws of growth, and
has been taken advantage of in the parturition of the higher
animals.
Thus, before explaining that a trait is an adaptation, it is
necessary to identify whether it is also shown in ancestors and
therefore may have evolved historically for different functions
from those that it now serves.
THE STRUCTURE OF URBAN ECOSYSTEM
Urban ecosystems, like all ecosystems, are composed of
biological components (plants, animals, and other forms of life)
and physical components (soil, water, air, climate, and
topography). In all ecosystems these components interact with
one another within a specified area. In the case of urban
ecosystems, however, the biological complex also includes
human populations, their demographic characteristics, their
institutional structures, and the social and economic tools they
employ. The physical complex includes buildings, transportation
networks, modified surfaces (e.g., parking lots, roofs, and
landscaping), and the environmental alterations resulting from
human decision making. The physical components of urban
ecosystems also include energy use and the import,
transformation, and export of materials. Such energy and
material transformations involve not only beneficial products
(such as transportation and housing) but also pollution, wastes,
and excess heat. Urban ecosystems are often warmer than
other ecosystems that surround them, have less infiltration of
rainwater into the local soil, and show higher rates and
amounts of surface runoff after rain and storms. Heavy metals,
calcium dust, particulates, and human-made organic
compounds (e.g., fertilizers, pesticides, and contaminants from
pharmaceutical and personal care products) are also
concentrated in cities.
The expansion of large urban areas results in the conversion of
forests, wetlands, deserts, and other adjacent biomes into
areas devoted to residential, industrial, commercial, and
transportational uses. Such conversion may result in the
production of barren land. In addition, the conversion process
fragments remaining wild or rural ecosystems into ever-smaller
patches, and relatively high amounts of suboptimal habitat are
found at the boundaries between the remaining native
ecosystems and those that have been modified for human use.
Such “edge habitats” inhibit specialist plant and animal species
—that is, species that can tolerate a narrow range of
environmental conditions. In addition, nonurban ecosystems
downwind and downstream of urban ecosystems are subjected
to high loads of water pollution, air pollution, and introduced
exotic species.
The primary drivers of biodiversity loss are influenced by the
exponential growth of the human population, increased
consumption as people strive for more affluent lifestyles, and
reduced resource efficiency.
The catalogue of Earth’s biodiversity is very incomplete. About
1.9 million species have scientific names. Estimates of the total
number of living species cluster around 10 million, which
means that most species have not been discovered and
described. (These estimates omit bacteria because of the
practical problems in defining bacterial species.) Simply
counting species must be, at best, an incomplete measure of
biodiversity, for most species cannot be counted within a
reasonable time. At the present rate of describing new species,
it will take about 1,000 years to complete the catalogue of
scientific names. Of the approximately 1.9 million species now
described, perhaps two-thirds are known from only one location
and many from examining only one individual or a limited
number of individuals, so knowledge of the genetic variation
within species is even more constrained. From just a few well-
studied species, it is clear that genetic variability can be
substantial and that it differs in extent between species.
It should be noted that the pace of species population declines
and extinction has risen dramatically over the last century, as
the effects increased and human activities such as agriculture,
fishing, and hunting continued to encroach into more-remote
natural areas. A 2019 report by the Intergovernmental Science-
Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services noted
that up to one million plant and animal species are facing
extinction due to human activity. (The loss of biodiversity as a
result of human activity and various methods aimed at
preventing this loss are discussed in the articles conservation
and biodiversity loss).

Terrestrial hot spots of biodiversity

To assist in the daunting challenge of protecting species, a
number of biologically rich but threatened regions containing
high numbers of endemic species have been identified and
mapped. Such “hot spots” of biodiversity have been described
to assist governments and nongovernmental organizations in
the development of conservation priorities.
How is biodiversity good for the economy? Learn how
biodiversity is good for the economy.
The United Nations named 2010 as the International Year of
Biodiversity (IYB)—a yearlong celebration intended to raise
public awareness about the importance of biodiversity and to
reinforce conservation efforts. Many of the conservation goals
promoted by the IYB have resurfaced periodically in later
United Nations awareness campaigns—such as the
International Year of Forests (2011), the International Year of
Soil (2015), and the International Year of Sustainable Tourism
for Development (2017).

SELECTIVE BREEDING
selective breeding, the practice of mating individuals with
desired traits as a means of increasing the frequency of those
traits in a population. In selective breeding, the breeder
attempts to isolate and propagate the genotypes (genetic
constitutions) that are responsible for an organism’s desired
qualities in a suitable environment. Such qualities generally are
economically or aesthetically desirable to humans rather than
useful to the organism in its natural environment.
Selective breeding results from the inheritance of gene-
associated traits and, more specifically, from changes in the
frequencies with which desired traits occur in populations. The
latter in turn alters gene frequencies in the population. Since
evolution is based on shifts in gene frequency, selective
breeding is considered to be a driver of evolution .
Historical developments and examples
Humans thousands of years. More than 9,000 years ago in
Mesoamerica, for example, humans began selectively breeding
teosinte plants that had greater numbers of kernels, and this
practice eventually gave rise to corn (maize; Zea mays), which
is today one of the most widely distributed of the world’s food
crops. Many other plants that are used by humans have
undergone similar selection processes. Cruciferous vegetables,
examples of which include kale, broccoli, and cauliflower, share
a common ancestor: wild mustard (Brassica). Selection of wild
mustard for specific traits, beginning at least 2,000 years ago,
led have been modifying the traits of plant and animal species
through selective breeding for to the emergence of different
versions, or cultivars, of the species. Selection for wild mustard
plants with large leaves, for example, resulted in kale, whereas
selection for enlarged flower buds led to cauliflower. Likewise,
domestic dogs first emerged possibly as early as 30,000 years
ago in Southeast Asia—and more certainly between 29,000 and
14,000 years ago in Eurasia—as a result of selective breeding
of wolves with companionable traits. Since then, selection for
fur colour and fur thickness and length, as well as for body type
and temperament, has resulted in more than 400 distinct
breeds.
EVOLUTION
In the two millennia between the lives of Aristotle and Mendel,
few new ideas were recorded on the nature of heredity. In the
17th and 18th centuries the idea of preformation was
introduced. Scientists using the newly developed microscopes
imagined that they could see miniature replicas of human
beings inside sperm heads. French biologist Jean-Baptiste
Lamarck invoked the idea of “the inheritance of acquired
characters,” not as an explanation for heredity but as a model
for evolution. He lived at a time when the fixity of species was
taken for granted, yet he maintained that this fixity was only
found in a constant environment. He enunciated the law of use
and disuse, which states that when certain organs become
specially developed as a result of some environmental need,
then that state of development is hereditary and can be passed
on to progeny. He believed that in this way, over many
generations, giraffes could arise from deerlike animals that had
to keep stretching their necks to reach high leaves on trees .
British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace originally postulated the
theory of evolution by natural selection. However, Charles
Darwin’s observations during his circumnavigation of the globe
aboard the HMS Beagle (1831–36) provided evidence for
natural selection and his suggestion that humans and animals
shared a common ancestry. Many scientists at the time
believed in a hereditary mechanism that was a version of the
ancient Greek idea of pangenesis, and Darwin’s ideas did not
appear to fit with the theory of heredity that sprang from the
experiments of Mendel.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I would like to express my greatest gratitude to all
those who directly or indirectly helped and supported
me throughout the project.

Firstly, I am highly indebted to my biology teacher

(Kalyan Marik sir) for his continuous guidance and
constant supervision as well as for providing necessary
information regarding the project. I would also like to
extend my gratitude to our Principal Ma’am for giving
me a chance to work on this project.

Finally, I would like to thank my parents, friends & team

members for their continued support and coordination
in this project.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge my own
dedication, effort, and commitment to this project.
Without my own hard work and perseverance, this
project would not have been possible.
I want to thank my academic advisor, (Kalyan Marik
Sir), for his valuable guidance, feedback, and support
throughout the project. His expertise was crucial in
shaping the direction and focus of my research.

The following are the sources which helped me

complete this project

Biology NCERT Book

 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, industrial melanism is a double-edged

sword,
offering incredible opportunities for scientific
advancement and human welfare but also posing
significant ethical and safety challenges.

It’s responsible and ethical use, guided by transparent

regulation and public discourse, will be crucial in
harnessing its full potential while minimizing risk.

The future of natural selection editing holds great

promise, but its direction must be guided by careful
consideration of its ethical, social and scientific
implications