Results: DATA TABLES

1.Light background Trial 1. 2.

% Black moths 26 28

% White moths 74 72

2. Dark Background Trial 1. 2.

% Black moths 59 63

% White moths 41 37

Discussion Questions

1. 1) Why are there two forms (light colored and dark colored) of moths? (Meaning, what causes there to be 2 forms). Ans) originally, the vast majority of peppered moths had light coloration, which effectively camouflaged them against the light-colored trees and lichens which they rested upon. However, because of widespread pollution during the Industrial Revolution in England, many of the lichens died out, and the trees that peppered moths rested on became blackened by soot, causing most of the light-colored moths, or typica, to die off from predation. At the same time, the dark-colored, or melanic, moths, carbonaria, flourished because of their ability to hide on the darkened trees. Natural selection was the reason for the dark colored moths.

1. 2) What has to happen in a population for natural selection to occur? How did this Peppered Moth simulation illustrate Natural Selection? (your answer should make it clear you understand the major ideas of natural selection). Ans) Natural selection occurs when individuals with certain genotypes are more likely than individuals with other genotypes to survive and reproduce, and thus to pass on their alleles to the next generation. As Charles Darwin (1859) argued in On the Origin of Species, if the following conditions are met, natural selection must occur: There is variation among individuals within a population in some trait. This variation is heritable (i.e., there is a genetic basis to the variation, such that offspring tend to resemble their parents in this trait).

Variation in this trait is associated with variation in fitness (the average net reproduction of individuals with a given genotype relative to that of individuals with other genotypes).

The peppered moth was around in England during the industrial revolution. Peppered moths are colored white and black, and blend into birch trees. The ones that successfully camouflage are obviously harder to see and thus do not get eaten. When the revolution hit, soot covered a lot of the trees including the light colored birch tree. The tree appeared dark, so when the moths would try to blend on them, they really only stood out more. The ones that genetically were darker (still had some spots) blended, and those were the ones that avoided being eaten. The lighter ones were targeted, and their numbers fell. The darker moths were more "fit" for their environment, and because they weren't eaten the second time around, got the chance to mate and reproduce. Their genes were passed to their offspring; where as the lighter moths did not get that chance. The next generation then had a higher percentage of darker colored moths. Thus Peppered Moth simulation illustrate Natural Selection.

1. 3) The following data come from Cambridge England. Year 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 Percentage of carbonaria (dark) moths 94.8 90.8 76.9 33.1 11.5

What is the likely explanation for this data? Adding credence to Kettlewells theory, others noted that, as pollution decreased, the population of lighter moths increased in some areas. In the late 1950s, pollution control laws were enacted and air quality improved. In some places, as the lichen returned to the trees, the expected increase in the population of the typica variety of moth occurred. Scientists believed this increase further confirmed this living example of evolution and thus a decline in the percentage of carbonaria (dark) moths