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Peppered Moth

The peppered moth is often used as an example of natural selection and evolution through changes in its camouflage. Originally white with dark spots, some moths developed a genetic mutation making them black. During the Industrial Revolution, as pollution blackened trees, the black moths were better camouflaged and their numbers rose while the light moths were more visible to predators and declined. Later anti-pollution laws caused trees to regain lighter colors, now favoring light moths whose numbers rebounded as the black moths lost their camouflage advantage and were preyed upon more often.

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1K views1 page

Peppered Moth

The peppered moth is often used as an example of natural selection and evolution through changes in its camouflage. Originally white with dark spots, some moths developed a genetic mutation making them black. During the Industrial Revolution, as pollution blackened trees, the black moths were better camouflaged and their numbers rose while the light moths were more visible to predators and declined. Later anti-pollution laws caused trees to regain lighter colors, now favoring light moths whose numbers rebounded as the black moths lost their camouflage advantage and were preyed upon more often.

Uploaded by

Fallon Rasmussen
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Biology Andrs Bereznev

1


Peppered moth
The peppered moth is the species which is most used as an example of Darwin theory of evolution by
natural selection. For the peppered moth the natural selection has worked both directions. Natural
selection is the process whereby organisms better adapted
to their environment tend to survive and produce more
offspring. The theory of its action was first fully expounded
by Charles Darwin and is now believed to be the main
process that brings about evolution. The peppered moth
originally was coloured white with dark spots and this is
where the name peppered moth came. The moth
camouflages on trees, but due to a genetic mutation the
peppered moth became black. The black peppered moth
was very noticeable and very quickly it decreased in number
as bird would eat something easy to notice rather than the
camouflaged moth. When industrialization got to its peak,
the walls and trees became black due to pollution. The black moth was now camouflaged, it rose in
numbers and the original
peppered moth was now more
noticeable and it decreased in
numbers. When laws enforcing
pollution control were introduced,
the black moth lost camouflage
and the original peppered moth
was now better camouflaged. The
black moth was again caught more
by predators causing a decrease in
its numbers. Now the moths are
drastically decreasing in number
with the causes remaining
unknown.
Bibliography
Biology corner. Peppered moth simulation. n.d.
http://www.biologycorner.com/worksheets/pepperedmoth.html (accessed May 27, 2014).
Miller, Ken. The peppered moth. August 1999.
http://www.millerandlevine.com/km/evol/Moths/moths.html (accessed May 27, 2014).
Moths count. Peppered moth and natural selection. n.d.
http://www.mothscount.org/text/63/peppered_moth_and_natural_selection.html
(accessed May 27, 2014).
Plaidcircuitry. Peppered moth line graph. n.d.
http://plaidcircuitry.com/computational_thinking/images/pepper-moth-line-graph.png
(accessed May 27, 2014).

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