Peppered Moth

 

Pepper-and-Salt Geometer (Biston betularia, Hodges # 6640), Fermilab, Kane County, IL, 6 August 2006. 
A subspecies of this moth in England, known as the Peppered Moth, was extensively studied by H.B.D. Kettlewell in the 1950's as an example of natural selection and "industrial melanism".  Kettlewell found that industrial pollution in England, killing the light colored lichens on trees, resulted in selective predation on the light colored moths relative to dark ones which were better camouflaged on the dark bark.  His methods and results are controversial and are an interesting story. 

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