Question

Peppered moths come in two colors, black and white. What did Kettlewell show, with regard to peppered moth populations and tree coloring? (Recall that England at the time was heated mainly by coal in urban areas.)

A) In smoggy areas, dark moths have a higher survival rate than white moths.
B) White moths stand out in rural areas, and quickly disappear from those areas.
C) The black moth and white moth forms were actually two different species of moths.
D) Environmental conditions do not affect physical features of a species over a short time period.

Answer 1

A

Step-by-step explanation:

In smoggy areas, dark moths have a higher survival rate than white moths.

Answer 2

Peppered moths come in two colors (black and white). Kettlewell was trying to understand why after the industrial revolution in England there was an increase in the appearance of dark-colored moths. What he found was that the industrial revolution was responsible, in part, for an over-reliance on coal especially in urban areas which means that there was a lot of smog and pollution in the air. The experiments showed that birds who eat the moths were more likely to eat moths that stand out against their environmental background. As a result a darker colored moth is more likely in a smog filled environment to "blend" into the environment as opposed to a light colored moth. As a result the birds selectively prey on the lighter colored moths. This means that the dark ones are more likely to survive and as such more likely to reproduce leading to an increase in urban areas of the dark colored moths. Thus, the answer to the question posed is choice (A).