This is for the peppered moths assignment. Here's my answers 1. Why are these moths called "peppered moths?"
Their light wings are "peppered" with small dark spots.
2. What animals eat the peppered moth?
Predators of the peppered moth include flycatchers, nuthatches, and the European robin.
3. What is a lichen?
Fungi.
4. What do the larvae of the moth eat?
Larvae feed on the leaves of birch willow and oak trees.
5. How do peppered moths spend the winter?
Peppered moth larvae change into pupae for the winter.
6. Moths that have more dark spots than the average moth are called what?
Insularia.
Impact of Pollution
7. Where was the first black form of the moth found?
Near the centre of Manchester.
8. What was the Industrial Revolution?
A period of time when factory-made items replaced the making of goods by hand. Result= more factories being built.
9. What was causing the different colors in the moths?
The dark color was caused by a mutation in the DNA of a single moth, and the mutated gene had been passed to all its offspring.
10. What is natural selection?
An idea that explains how new species evolve.
11. Who suggested that peppered moths were an example of natural selection?
J.W.Tutt
12. What is industrial melanism?
The effect of the moths darkening in polluted forests.
Kettlewell's Experiments
13. What is an entomologist?
A scientist who studies insects.
14. How do scientists test theories?
Scientists test theories by making predictions based on the theory. They then test the prediction to see of what they observe matches their expectations.
15. Write down ONE of Kettlewell's predictions.
Heavily polluted forests will have mostly dark peppers moths.
16. Dark moths were found in what parts of the country?
Near the industrial cities producing pollution.
17. How did Kettlewell directly study the moths?
He placed light and dark moths on the trunks of trees where he could observe them. He recorded the times a bird found the moth.
18. Why did dark moths have a survival advantage?
In dark forests, birds were twice as likely to eat a light moth as a dark moth.
19. When Kettlewell recaptured the marked moths, what did he find?
He had experimentally shown that of the moth's color matched the environment, it had a better chance of survival.
20. Where did Kettlewell publish his findings?
In Scientific American.
Birdseye View
21. Open the simulation and play the role of the bird in both the dark and the light forest. Try to behave as a bird would behave, choosing the moths that are the most obvious. At the end of each simulation, record the percent of moths captured in the table below.
In the dark forest, after the end of the simulation, there were 41% light moths and 59% dark moths.
In the light forest, after the end of the simulation, there were 76% light moths and 24% dark moths.
Final Analysis
22. Explain how the color of the moths increases or decreases their chances of survival.
Dark moths survive better in a forest with dark trees because their wings blend in, camouflaging them from predators. If their wings were a different color their chances of survival would decrease.
23. Explain the concept of "natural selection" using your moths as an example.
Because their wings helped them blend in with their environment, dark moths thrived in the dark forest while light moths' population decreased. Dark moths evolved to better survive in their environment.
24. What would happen if there were no predators in the forest? Would the colors of the moths change over time? Defend your answer?
No, both kinds of moths would thrive. there would be no predators picking them off, so there would be no reason why their populations wouldn't continue to increase.
