Question

He peppered moth provides a well-known example of natural selection. the light-colored form of the moth was predominant in england before the industrial revolution. in the mid-nineteenth century, a dark-colored form appeared. the difference is produced by a dominant allele of one gene. by about 1900, approximately 90% of the moths around industrial areas were dark colored, whereas light-colored moths were still abundant elsewhere. apparently, birds could readily find the light moths against the soot-darkened backgroun

Answer 1

The reason for the loss of color after the industrial revolution is that the light-colored moths were "selected against" by predators. These birds could only see the light ones against the newly dark, sooted background. Over time, these predators could no longer distinguish the dark ones from their natural dark, sooted background. Thus more light-colored moths stood out against the dark soot, and were eaten. And more dark-colored moths eluded the birds, survived to reproduce, passing on more of their dominant genes for dark color to their offspring. After several decades of hundreds of thousands of generations, most of the later generations were dark, due to selective advantage of camouflage to survive predation.

Answer 2

A. Dark moths had a survival disadvantage in industrial Dorset.