What caused the mutant dark moth to become the dominant color of the peppered moth species?

Answer 1

I presume you are referring to the 'peppered moth' used as an example of modern natural selection in practice.

Well while the peppered moth is mainly light colored, it is noted that from time to time a dark individual is to be found purely as a result of random variation.

The important thing to appreciate is that in the English midlands where pollution had made all the tree bark dark, these dark individuals survived and bread because birds could not see them against the dark bark. Thus over time the peppered moth population in the English midlands was made mainly of dark colored individuals.

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or

Because of the industrial revolution the trees turned dark and since the light-colored moths rest there they adapted to the environment so when they had baby moths the had a mutation in their DNA and became dark.

Answer 2

The population of the light peppered moth changed because in the 1900's there were mostly dark trees, and they didn't blend in as well as the dark peppered moth, so the light peppered moth got eaten more and wasn't able to reproduce.

Answer 3

because of the industrial age alot of smoke and dust was in the air and it caused walls and tree trunks and stuff to get covered in a dark layer so the dark moth was able to blend in while the peppered moths with white dots were easlily noticeable to predators

Answer 4

This change is attributed to the change in the moth's natural environment during the Industrial Revolution. The light-colored trees and lichens became covered in soot due to pollution. This made the lighter-colored moths more vulnerable to predators while the darker moths flourished. "Industrial melanism" is the term used to describe this occurrence.

Answer 5

Industrial pollution in England from the heavy use of low grade coal deposited soot on the bark of trees, changing the color of the tree's bark from it normal white/grey to dark black. The previously well adapted and camouflaged white moths were now easily spotted by birds and eaten. Moths that had genes for darker coloration were less easily spotted and more of them survived and reproduced. Eventually over several generations the light colored moths had been eliminated and only solid black colored moths remained, as they were now adapted and camouflaged to be invisible to the birds when on the sooty black trees.

Eventually England cleaned up their industry (after a series of very bad smogs killed people) and eliminated the use of low grade coal. Without the soot, rain and wind eventually cleaned the tree's bark turning back from black to its normal white/grey color. The process reversed as the black moths were now visible and got eaten by the birds and more lighter colored moths survived and reproduced. Now the moths are back to their original white color.

This is the process of natural selection producing what is called microevolution in a local population.

Answer 6

This could have been a type of adaptation. The coloring could help the moth hide better from predators than its original coloring.

Answer 7

mutations in the DNA of the organism caused new alleles to appear