105k views
2 votes
Not long after the factories became common, factory pollution darkened the trunks of trees surrounding the factories. what effect did this pollution have on the peppered moth population, which has members that are colored black as well as colored white?

User Nav
by
6.7k points

1 Answer

6 votes
Because factory pollution darkened the trees within the habitat of peppered moths, these moths underwent natural selection. More light colored or white moths would die more frequently as the darkening of trees made it so they could not camouflage as effectively. Darker colored or black moths did not die as frequently and survived longer as their coloration allowed them to blend in with the dark trees. Because of this, there became more dark colored moths as lighter colored moths died off and couldn’t produce offspring. The surviving darker moths created more darker moths and the peppered moth population became dominated by darker moths as they were more likely to survive and reproduce.

Hope this helps!
User Rapunzo
by
7.2k points