GENETICS AND EVOLUTION
INHERITANCE AND VARIATION
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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: -The evolution of the peppered moth is an evolutionary instance of directional colour change in the moth population as a consequence of air pollution during the Industrial Revolution. The frequency of dark-coloured moths increased at that time, an example of 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: -Finally it was found that the color was genetic. Moths passed their color to the next generation. Eggs from light moths developed into light moths and dark moth eggs turned to dark adults. The dark color was caused by a mutation in the DNA of a single moth, and the mutated gene had been passed to all its offspring.