MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY BIG HISTORY SCHOOL: CORE FACT SHEET 6.1.7. PEPPERED MOTH

The Peppered Moth is an example of evolutionary Prior to industrial Britain, The peppered moth has biology. It is evidence of how rapid changes can occur the most common type of speckled black and white within a species which enable it to adapt to its specific moth found was the light wings environment in order to survive. moth. When dark and light moths By 1898, dark moths out- The population of peppered moths had two common breed, they produce dark numbered light moths by types. One was light – it has very little black spotting on and light moths, not grey. 99-1. its wings. The other is dark – with lots of black spotting Before 1848 – mainly The changes in the on its wings. Originally the white was more prevalent, white, after 1848 – mainly peppered moth support but during the industrial era, the population of black dark the theory of evolution. grew so much that it became the more common colour. By 1900 in Manchester, the The lighter version of the peppered moth blended well Due to pollution from the dark peppered moth with birch trees which were common in Britain. This Industrial era, many trees almost completely meant that the dark moths were easy prey as they were blackened by soot. replaced the light could not camouflage against the bark of the tree. This meant light moths peppered moth. were the easier prey. Pale moths saw a resurgence after the clean air laws Example of rapid change A classic example of came into effect in the 1960s. within a species Darwin’s theory. Bernard Kettlewell, from the University of Oxford, was one of the first people to investigate the changes in the peppered moth population. He conducted a series of observations, fieldwork and experiments which proved that the black moths had increased in population due to their ability to camouflage better against the trees of the industrial era. The colour of the peppered moth was dependent on the local environment in which It was found that predation it was found. Those living in urban, industrialised areas such as Manchester saw an by birds was selecting the increase int eh number of dark moths, whereas country areas that had little colour peppered moths in pollution retained a larger number of light moths. an area

Image credit: Martinowsky, lichte en zwarte versie van berkenspanner, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lichte_en_zwarte_versie_berkenspanner.jpg CC BY SA 3.0. Bibliography: BBC News, Jonathon Webb. 2016. Famous peppered moth’s dark secret revealed. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36424768. [Accessed 1 Sep- tember 2018]. BBC GCSE Bitesize. 2014. Natural selection and evolution. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/ocr_gateway_pre_2011/environment/4_survival_of_fittest5.shtml. [Accessed 1 September 2018]. Encyclopaedia. 2018. Peppered Moth. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/animal/peppered-moth. [Accessed 1 September 2018]. The Conversation. 2015. Natural selection in black and white: how industrial pollution changed moths. [ONLINE] Available at: http://theconversation. com/natural-selection-in-black-and-white-how-industrial-pollution-changed-moths-43061. [Accessed 1 September 2018].