(50pts) The evolution of the peppered moth over the last two hundred years has been studied in detail. Originally, the vast majority of peppered moths had light coloration. However, because of widespread pollution during the Industrial Revolution in England, the dark colored moths became much more common. Question:

What specifically caused the shift in phenotype of the moths? Please explain in detail.

The peppered moth is a temperate species of night-flying moth. Peppered moth evolution is an example of population genetics and natural selection and not artificial selection.

Explanation:

The phenotype of the moth changed due to natural selection. During the Industrial Revolution, objects in England became a lot darker in color due to the settling of coal pollutants in the air. These light colored moths did not have good camouflage in this environment. Therefore, most of the light colored moths did not survive to reproduce. However, the dark colored moths had better camouflage, and were therefore more likely to survive and reproduce. This lead to a shift towards darker color moths, as they had a higher survival rate than the light colored moths.