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a. Pale colored, speckled peppered moth b. Dark colored peppered moth

c. Pale and dark colored peppered moths on silver birch tree trunk. Peppered moths rest on silver birch tree trunks
with their wings outstretched, this behavior can make them easy prey for birds.
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The peppered moth has two colored (as pictured above). The moth can be either pale with black dots (picture a) or dark brown
(picture b). These moths are active at night, and spend their days resting on the bark of trees. Having no defenses against the
birds, moths rely on cryptic coloration (camouflage) to hide from predators. During the day moths will rest on trees with their
wings open to try to blend in with their environment so they are not eaten by birds. However, the moths that are less able to
blend in with their environment are more likely to be eaten.

Look at picture c. Based on the color of the tree, which color moth will survive better? If the color of the tree was brown,
which color moth will survive better?

On lichen covered tree bark in the picture light moths blend in, and dark moths stand out.

The color of the moth is determine by one gene with two alleles. The darker color is the dominant allele and the lighter color is
a recessive allele.

In 1800 the peppered moth was only recorded in the paler speckled form, but during the industrial revolution in the United
Kingdom dark colored peppered moths started to be recorded.

While the numbers of the dark form of the peppered moth increased dramatically, the paler speckled form became scarce in
some areas. However, in more recent times the numbers of the dark form have declined relative to the pale form.

Peppered Moth Virtual Lab

1. Go to the following website: http://virtualbiologylab.org/selection/ and select the lab labelled “Model 2 – Industrial
Melanism”
2. When the model opens, you” will see a tree trunk with a total of 20 moths on them. The year is 1830. Being pre-
industrial revolution, the trees are covered in lichen, and you may only be able to see the dark moths.
3. You will also see several control buttons and sliders, along with various reporters and graphs. These controls and
reporters are described in Table 1. The initial frequency of the dark allele is set at 0.05.

4.
5. To run the model, set the foraging time to 10 seconds, and click ‘Go’. A bird will appear in the world-view and follow
the mouse cursor as the timer counts down from
6. While the timer is counting, move the bird around the trees and ‘eat’ moths by right-clicking the mouse over them. When
five seconds have expired the bird will disappear. You can see how successful you were at catching moths by the ‘Catch
Rate’ reporter, which gives a cumulative average of the number of moths caught per second. You can also read the
phenotype and allele frequencies of the remaining moths. The dark allele frequency is graphed over time spent by the
bird eating.
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7. When ‘Go’ is clicked again, the model creates 20 new moths with genotypes drawn from the current allele proportions.
These new moths are randomly placed around the tree trunks. Also, the year is advanced by two.
8. Repeat for 30 years and record data

Year Relative Survival Dark Relative Survival Allele Frequencies Allele Frequencies
Light Light Dark

1830 0.33 0.71 0.93 0.08

1832 0.33 0.76 0.95 0.05

1834 0 0.63 0.95 0.05

1836 0 0.82 0.95 0.05

1838 0 0.58 0.95 0.05

1840 0 0.71 0.95 0.05

1842 0 0.69 0.95 0.05

1844 0 0.63 0.95 0.05

1846 0 0.72 0.95 0.05

1848 1 0.32 0.95 0.05

1850 1 0.39 0.93 0.07

1852 0.25 0.44 0.89 0.11

1854 0.5 0.5 0.55 0.13

1856 1 0.33 0.95 0.05

1858 0.8 0.27 0.88 0.13

1860 0.58 0.38 0.69 0.31

9. Skip to year 1950. Repeat steps 2-8 from 1950-1980. Record Data
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Year Relative Survival Relative Survival Light Allele Frequencies Allele Frequencies
Dark Light Dark

1950 0.43 0.17 0.55 0.45

1952 0.6 0.6 0.57 0.43

1954 0.38 0.14 0.54 0.46

1956 0.33 0.5 0.5 0.5

1958 0.56 0 0.36 0.64

1960 0.61 0 0.3 0.7

1962 0.6 N/A 0.29 0.71

1964 0.6 N/A 0.3 0.7

1966 0.53 0.33 0.29 0.71

1968 0.42 0 0.35 0.65

1970 0.32 1 0.25 0.75

1972 0.33 0.4 0.29 0.71

1974 0.53 0.33 0.57 0.43

1976 0.33 0.5 0.45 0.55

1978 0.29 0.62 0.75 0.25

1980 0 0.44 0.9 0.1

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Answer Questions:

1. Why was the original form of the peppered moth pale and speckled? What advantages did this bring to the species
whilst resting on tree trunks?
- The original form of peppered moth is pale and speckled, because the dark moth have been eaten by the birds.
When on the birch tree, which is white, the pale color blend in with its environment helping them hiding from
its prey.

2. What happened during the industrial revolution which allowed the darker moths to evolve and increase in
numbers? What advantages did the darker moths now have?
- In the industrial revolution, the pollution kill the lichen on the tree causing the tree to become brown,
therefore the pale moth can’t hide anymore, so the dark will dominate
3. In 1956 the Clean Air Act was passed in England. The law cleaned up some of the pollution and lichen began to
grow again. What effect do you predict that would have the moths?
- We will see pale moth more often, than the past few decades, due to it provide place for them to hide from the
birds

4. What types of factors have influenced the evolution of the peppered moth in the last 200 years? Why was the
evolution of this species so fast?
- Pollution. Because moths have much lesser life span than other animals, its tend to reproduce faster, therefore
the change in the baby can happen faster.

The peppered moth is a ‘model’ for natural selection. The use of models is important in modern scientific investigation,
they help scientists to investigate their theories and prove whether they are right or wrong. In the case of the peppered
moth, their evolution by natural selection has helped scientists to prove Darwin’s original theory.