Organ System Evolution

For scientists, evolution is the reason different kinds of species live on Earth. This evolution gave birth to diversity of organisms comprising a given population. One of the key concepts of this theory is natural selection. In layman s term, it is the survival of the fittest. The environment in which an organism lives will favor species that have characteristics that will ensure better birth rate. A classic example of this is the industrial melanism that happened in England during the industrial revolution. Before the Industrial revolution, the typical pattern of the wing of England s peppered moth, Biston betularia, are light colored. Dark colored moths, or melanic moths, are very rare. However, the opposite happened during the Industrial revolution. In 1819, first melanic morph was seen, and in the next few years, it grew in number (University of Michigan, 2009). Very rapidly, the B. betularia in England evolve from light colored moths to melanic moths.

The reason behind this evolution of the color of wings of B. betularia in England is that the change in environment ensures the reproduction of melanic moths. Industrial wastes darkened the trees and pollute the air, thus killing the lichens. The former light color of the environment was darkened by these wastes. The light colored moths cannot blend with the color of the environment due to the contrast of their colors. Since it is a defense mechanism for escaping predators, light colored moths became easy prey. On the other hand, melanic moths became able to camouflage with the trees, hence escaping predators (ONeil, 2010). This ensured that the melanic moths can mate and multiply more rapidly. Hence, it can be said that the nature favored the evolution of melanic moths.

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