CONTENT
How did the peppered moth evolved ?The evolution of the moth is an evolutionary …show more content…
The concept refers to an increase in the number of dark-coloured moths due to industrial population, and a reciprocal decrease in the population in a clean environment. Hence, the phenomenon is called industrial melanism. the frequency of the dark-coloured type was found to have increased drastically . By the end of the 19th century it almost completely outnumbered the original light-coloured type .
Those individuals who possess superior physical, behavioral, or other attributes are more likely to survive than those which are not so well endowed which is the theory of Natural Selection . Those organisms that survive are more likely to produce offspring with the same advantages for survival thus increasing the population of the organism. An organism that produces a large number of offspring is seemed to be really fit .For example ,the Peppered Moth species which is a well-documented study in demonstrating the value of camouflage in Natural Selection with the continuing process of evolution. This case involves two variations of the same organism, a white-colored phenotype and a black-colored phenotype …show more content…
The dark phenotype is controlled by a dominant allele , which means that a moth will possessing at least one such allele will have a dark body. Each individual have alleles which one is from each of its parents .In order to have a light body, the moth must have both alleles for light body colour . Prior to the industrial revolution, 99% of the moth population was comprised by the white moths and it were protected by their ability to blend with the light-coloured lichens which is lived on the bark of trees . The black moths were visible against the light background and hence more susceptible to being eaten by birds or other species. However ,in fact, the dark moths only comprised 1% of the population. Consequently, the black variety did not have such a great chance to reproduce and increase their numbers in population . The white variation was more fit compared to the black one . Thus , the frequency of the dark allele was very low which is about .001%, maintained primarily by spontaneous mutation from light to dark alleles