46 J . EI\"T01\fOL. Soc. BH!T COU; lIIIlIA, 69 (1972), AUG. 1, 1972

INDLSTRIAL MELANISM: A POSSIBILITY IN

G. G. E. SCUDDER I

ABSTRACT Melanics of the Geometrid Biston cognataria Guenee have been recorded from t.he comparatively polluted Vancouver a rea of British Columbia. At present t he genetic basis a nd evolutionary significance of t his is unknown. I ndustrial mf'lanism h as b('en s tudied be cons ppc ific. Owen 119( / ) no tes that the extensively in the Brit ish [sips a nd E urope nH'l anic form of B. rog/lilla ria is comm o n in th E' IFord . 194;): K e ttlewpll . 19.'):';a. 19S5b. easte rn part of l\'orth America. b('in!( reporlf'd 19.').')('. I <) .i(,a . 19;)(,b. 19S1:Ia. 19.5gb . 1% 1. in soutlH'astern P pnnsylvania as ea rl y as 190(, 19(, .i a: C lark e ('{ S heppard. 1<)63. 1966: and thl' Pittsburg arf'a in I <) I (): the ear li est Bishop 8. (( aqwr. II)iO: Cook el al .. 19";0: records for till' Ch icago arca WE're in 1915 and Askp\" el 81.. 19i 11 wlwr.- the Geonlt'trid for thl' Lon!( I sland region in I <)S 4 . In Rislon he lulariil I L. ) occu rs predom inantly as W", hl e naw Co unty. Mich igan. Owen 119( 1) th e black form (cilrhonil ria) in polluted in­ record:; the melanie of B. cugruilariil as having dustrialize d areas. but is much Ic,s ('ommon in constitut ed C)(l, i per ccnt of the pOPll lation in or abs('nt frnm non-polluted agri c ul tural or I 8. S hf'ppard of many h roarl-Ieav('d tr(' Ps. and OCC lIrs frOI11 119(,(>1 h av(' shO\\'I1 that the re is differ('ntial N ova Scotia and t h e lVl allaganii HiveI' in the sun'iva l o f thl' morphs ill diff prpnt areas. bird north . to 'cw J ersey a nd P f' nnsylva nia in the predators prl'fer entia ll y s('leeting tlw form that so llth . and reaches from C alifornia a nd O regon rlops no\. match the hac kg ro und. Thus . in to British C oillm h ia in th e \H'St. It also occun indus trial areas ",11('rp the li c h e n o n tr('(' trunks in th e e as tern P a laearclic fro m norlhern India h as been kil k d . the tret' trunks are rather to J apan. Owen I I <)(>1 I reports that the uniform black and henr(' Illplan ie form s rt'st ing me lanic form is not known to o ccur in C hina on ;;uch trunk s in t h e d aytim p arc not r('allily and Japan . and n o records of till' melanic form seen hv prf' dators. w hereas n ormal palc forms arl' lI\'"ilahle fr ol11 t h e \\'('stf'rn U .S .A. Dr. W are easily d pt ectcd and preYNl upon. In non­ C. 1\'lt-G lIffin informs m (' (in litt.) that in po llu ted aI'''''. til!' t r<'(' t rll nks an' r o\ ('rpd w ith Canada tllP m f' lanie forlll is known only fro m li!'hen a nd tllf' n o rm a l form s arf' r: ryptir nlly sO lltill'rtl and till' eastern township o f colo llrl'fl and IlPnc,' ovc rloob'd. wherr'as S tl'. C lo thilde in Q ue b f' I" m e lanic forms al'l' obvioll s 10 bird prpc!ator s. [{ ('el'nt ly. I h avc comp aeross two mf'lanic K E' lll l' wpll (I() ,'. r il .) liB'; df'lllonstra tf' d t hat spl'ciml'll ' of n. cog/lilli/ ria in the coll l'etions of thl' fr(, (pl t'IH'~ of tIll' mf'lflnir form can bf' the UniHrsitv o f Britis h Columbia. Both c

captured . but the norm a l pall' form was taken IC ram erl. Saq.(f' nt II I), II suggests that the eommonl y. At Wl'stwick La ke tllPr f' is virtua ll) nw lani es th a t occur in rural areas m ay havp a no industria l po llutio n . phys io lo g ical supf' rio rity over the no rm a l pa le O ur future research will determine the form . dfpc ts of industrializatio n o ther than presellt proportions of the mela nie form o f n. en vironm f' ntal da rkening perhaps bein g in­ CO[.f ll il lilria in populations in the Greater vo lv ed . FurtllP r. thf' me lanics reportf'd in Va ncouver area and lower m a inland. It is Shetl a nd by K ettlf' ,,- ell (~ Berry 11 96 1. I ()() I) I cf' rta in that industria l po llutio n in the regio n is Sf'f' m a lso not C(-· Ia ted to industrial pollution. n'lati ve ly hig h. espeeially in thf' New Wpst­ Nf' \·l' rthelf'ss . in B. h('{lliaria a nd B. COf.f ll il lil riil minster area. Thus. one may suspect tha t obsen 'ati ons to d a te suggf'st strong ly that pollution in til!' Vancouver area in 19S -:- and mf' lanislll in th e~f' ta xa is usua lly associa tN( sincf' . has been high pnough to Ipa d to na tura l \I'ith industria l po llutio n in som l' form o r selection favouring the m ela n ic fo rm of this ano tlwr. mo th . in m uch the way tha t it has in E urope K ettl (' wpll 11 1)() 1 J has notNI tha t while and eastern North Am erica. H owf've r . it indus tri a l nH' lanis l1l and reli ct or geogra phic sho uld be stressed tha t mf' lan ism may a ri se mela nism is usua lly inherited as M endpli a n fr o m time to tim e for ve ry differf' nt reasons. dom inants. sc m ilptha l m f' lanics (;a n al so occur aNia l cryps is and heat a bso rption bein g tw o as rarities. poss iblv at about muta tion-ra te in such possibilities. c('rtain species. a nd in th('se the mNhod of K lots 11964. 1966. I <) hBa. I ()6B b I has inhe rita nc(, is rt'cessiv e. Thus. it is im port a nt to repo rtl' d m e lanism in a numbl'r of in determ inf' th e fr rq upnc\- of m elanics in B. Connectic ut and consid ers tha t h prl' the (OOlf fUllnriil in lh f' Van LO UVf' r a rpa . and inl · mf' lanism is not re latf' d to industria l pollutio n . pf' ra tiH' to b reed thf's!' fo rm s so as to de term il1f' uu t pNha ps to d a rkPr environnJ(' nts bro ught th t' gt'l1f' ti c bas is of thf' black colo ra tio n . about b y reforesta tion. In Phiga iia lilea

References Askew, R. R., Cook, L. M . and Bishop, ,j . A., 1971. Atmospheri c pollution and mela nic moths in Ma nchester and its environs. J. AppL E col. 1'!: 247-256. Bishop, J . A. and H a rper, P. S., 1970. Melanism in t he moth Gonodontis bidentata: a cline within the M erseyside conurbation. Heredity , Lond. 25:449·456. Cla rke, C. A. and Sheppard , P. M., 1963. Frequency of the melanic forms of the moth Bis ton betularia (L.) on Deeside a nd into adjacent a reas. Nature, Lond. 198:1279·1282. ______" 1966. A local survey of t he distribution of ind ustri al mela nic forms in the moth Miston betularia and estimates of the selective values of t hese in a n industrial environ­ ment. P roc. Roy. Soc. London (B) 165:424-439. Cook, L. M. , Askew , R. R. a nd Bishop, J. A., 1970. Increasing fr equency of t he ty pical form of the Peppered Moth in Manchester. Nature, Land. 227:11 55 . Ford, E. B., 1945. Polymorp hism. BioI. Rev. 20:73·88. Kettlewell , H. B. D ., 1955a. Recogni t ion of appropriate backgrounds by t he pale and dark phases of . Nature, Lond. 175:943. ______, 1955b. Selection ex periments on industria l mela ni sm in the Lepidoptera. Heredity 9:323-342. , 1955c. How industriali za ti on can alter species. Discovery 16(12): 507-511. ______. 1956a. Further selection experiments on indust rial melanism in t he Lepidop­ tera. Heredity 10:287·301. ______, 1956b. A resume of in vestigations of the evolution of melanism in the Lepidoptera. Proc. Roy. Soc. London (B) 145:297-303. ______, 1958a. A survey of t he frequencies of Bis ton be tularia (L. ) (Lep.) and its melanic form in G reat Britain . Heredity 12:5 1-72. ______, 1958b. Industri a l melanism in t he Lepidoptera a nd its contribution to our know ledge of evolut ion. Proc. 10t h Int. Congr. E ntomol. 2 :831 -841. ______~, 196 1. The phonomenon of industri a l melanism in the Lepidoptera. Ann. Rev. E nt. 6 :245-262. ______, 1965a. A 12 -yea r survey of the frequencies of Biston betularia (L.) (Lep.) a nd its melanic forms in G reat Bri tain. Entomologist's Rec. J. Var. 77:195-2 18. ______, 1965b. survival and selection for pat tern . Science 148:1290· 1296. 48 J . Ei\"TOMOL. Soc. BHIT. COLu~mIA, 69 11972), AVG. 1, 1972

Kettlewell, H . B. D., and Berry, R. J., 1961. The study of a cline. Amathes glareosa Esp. and its melanic f. edda Staud. (Lep.) in Shetland. Heredit y 61 :403-4 14 . ______, 1969. Gene flow in a cline. Amathes glareosa Esp. and its melanic f. edda Staud. (Lep.) in Shetland. Heredity 2 4: 1-14. Klots, A. B. , 1964. Notes on melanism in some Connecti cut moths. J. N. Y. Entomo!. Soc. 72:142- 144. _____ , 1966. Melanism in Connecticut Panthea furcilla (Packard) (Lepidoptera: ) . J. N. Y. Entomo!' Soc. 74:95-100. _ _ ___ , 1968a. Melanism in Connecticut d e ridens (Guen~e) (Lepidoptera: Noc­ tuidae). J. N. Y. Entomo!. Soc. 76:58-59. _ ____ , 1968b. Further notes on melanism in Connecticut Panthea furcilla (Packard) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). J. N. Y. E ntomo!. Soc. 76:92-95. Owen, D. F. , 1961. Industrial melanism in Nort h American moths. Amer. Nat. 95:227-233. _____ , 1962. Parallel evolu tion in European and North American populations of a Geometrid moth. Nature, Lond. 195:830. Sargent, T. D. , 1971. Melanism in Phigalia titea (C ramer) (Lepidoptera: Geometridae). J.N. Y. Entomo!' Soc. 79:122-129.

METRIC CONVERSION Co ntributors of papers on laboratory studies should use the metric system exclusively. Use of ~h e mctric system in reporting the results of field stUdies is a desirable ultimate objective. Since it is difficult to replace imm edi a ·~ e l y such standard concepts as Ib/ acre by the unit kg/ hectare, yards by meters, or miles by kilometers, the following table of conversion factors is presented. 1 in.= 2.54 cm 1 ft3= 28.3 dm3 1 cm= 0.394 in 1 yard= 0.914 m 1 acre = 0.405 hectar es 1 m = 3.28 ft= 1.094 yards 1 mile= 1.61 km 1 Ib acrc= 1.12 kg/ hectare 1 km= 0.621 mile 1 Ib .= 453.6 g 1 Ib/ in 2(psi)= 70 .3 g/ cm2 1 kg=2.2 Ib 1 gal (U.S. )= 3.785 liters lib/ gal (U.S )= 120 g/ liter 1 li ter = O.264 gal (U.S.) 1 gal (Imp) = 4.546 liters lIb/ gal (Imp) = 100 g/ liter 1 litcr = 0220 (Imp) 1 dm3= 0.0353 ft. 1 hectare= 2.47 acres 1 kg/ hectare= 0.89 Ib/ acre 1 g/ m 2= 0.0142 psi I g/ liter= 0.83 Ib/ IOO gal (U. S.) = 1000 ppm 1 g/ liter = 1 Ib/ IOO gal (Imp)