1 / 8

The Peppered Moth

The Peppered Moth. Example of Evolution. Background Information. 1850’s: Industrial Revolution Moths ( Biston betularia ) come in both light and dark colors. Until the 1850’s, the dark color was rare. After almost 100 years, the darker color was the dominant form.

ull
Download Presentation

The Peppered Moth

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Peppered Moth Example of Evolution

  2. Background Information • 1850’s: Industrial Revolution • Moths (Biston betularia) come in both light and dark colors. • Until the 1850’s, the dark color was rare. • After almost 100 years, the darker color was the dominant form. • Birds are predators of moths

  3. What is happening? • Hypothesis: Evolution by natural selection is taking place in peppered moths. • In polluted areas, dark moths have higher fitness (blend in with soot-covered trees) than light moths. • In non-polluted areas, light moths have higher fitness.

  4. What is driving this evolution? • Selective Pressure: Predators • Selective Agent: BIRDS! • Therefore, moths that blend in with trees have a higher fitness (survive to reproduce) than those that do not.

  5. The Moths:

  6. Conclusion about the moths: • Due to natural selection, in polluted areas darker moths have a higher fitness.

More Related