GENETICS AND EVOLUTION
EVOLUTION
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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Natural selection favored moths with dark wings because predators could not see them on the soot-colored trees.
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Natural selection favored moths with white wings that were easy for predators to see.
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Natural selection favored moths with white wings because predators could not see them on the soot-colored trees.
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Natural selection caused moths with white wings to become extinct.
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Detailed explanation-1: -Dark moths live longer in a dark forest, so they had more time to breed. All living things respond to natural selection. Over 100 other species of moth were observed to darken over time in polluted forests. Scientists call this effect industrial melanism.
Detailed explanation-2: -Scientists have discovered the specific mutation that famously turned moths black during the Industrial Revolution. In an iconic evolutionary case study, a black form of the peppered moth rapidly took over in industrial parts of the UK during the 1800s, as soot blackened the tree trunks and walls of its habitat.
Detailed explanation-3: -Industrialisation and domestic coal fires had caused sooty air pollution, which had killed off lichens and blackened urban tree trunks and walls. So, it was now the pale form of the moth that was more obvious to predators, while the melanic form was better camouflaged and more likely to survive and produce offspring.
Detailed explanation-4: -However, the Industrial Revolution changed the tree colors. After the pollution from the Industrial Revolution started affecting trees, most of the collected peppered moths were of the dark form. Click for more detail. As the trees darkened with soot, the light-colored moths were easier to see.
Detailed explanation-5: -But as the Industrial revolution began to really take off in the 1800s, pollution from the dense industrial smoke and soot killed off lichens and darkened tree trunks and walls in towns and cities. As a result, the paler moths became more visible to predators, while the darker variety became more camouflaged.