Modern Example of natural selection anyone? (1 Viewer)
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scaredytiger
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people eating rotten food as a dare and dying.
How modern do you need? Have a look at the peppered moth (theres heaps about it on the net).R book said:
Pretty much what happened is tgat in the early 19th century in England the majority of the population of peppered moths were light coloured , allowing them to camouflage against the light bark of trees. However, due to the industrial revolution, much of this bark became blackened by soot from high levels of pollution, and then they faced predation so were selected against. Darker coloured moths (which used to be the minority of the population) could then camouflage and were selected for causing the population to changed to the majority of the population being dark However, now due to pollution controls the population of light coloured moths has increased again.
Undermyskin
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Well, the peppered moth is a classic example. Modern, in this case, means current and lately found. The P Moth is rather popular and at times not perfectly correct anymore.
It depends on what the context for 'modern' is. If the question is modern in the evolution of species (billions of years) it is pretty modern, but if it means the last few centuries, then I agree that it is not a modetn example.Undermyskin said:
If you want a bacteria example Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is a good one.R book said:
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peppered moth
and theres always the DDT resistant insects
and theres always the DDT resistant insects
Sarah182
Herpes Member
These are the best two to use as Peppered moth is an example of physical factors leading to natural selection and DDT resistant mosquitoes is the result of a chemical factor.
If not you can always look at rabbits and the myxoma virus?
Will Shakespear
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There are actually a great number of modern examples of natural selection however these mainly concern micro evolution and not macro evolution. In other word, these evolution concerns the fact that new species are not created as they take long geological periods to occur. The central type of modern micro evolution are mainly due to chemical resistance produced by human. I will give an example of a form of micro evolution (peppered moth) in vague detail although I will list a number of them below to allow extensive research.
- Peppered moth - Due to the ever advancing industralised society causing a unjustified result of pollution, many forest trees have become darkened with soot released by industry. As dark moths are more camouflaged in these darkened tree environment, they are less susceptible to their predators and therefore, their chance of survival are greater. The eventual result is an evolutionary turnover of micro evolution in which white peppered moth becomes the minority of the population and black peppered moth becomes the majority of the population. Keep in mind, that no new species have been created (The dark peppered moth and the white peppered moth can still interbreed). From this justification, this type of evolution is classified as micro evolution and NOT macro evolution.
- Bacterias - Bacterias are now less susceptible to antibiotics as they were many years ago.
- Ticks - A frequent change of chemicals used from the range of 1960s to modern day era due to the development of resistance to those chemicals through the scientific means of micro evolution.
- Native plant poison - Some native plants are seen to be releasers of certain poison however native animals are not effected by it due to their resistance to it through the means of biological micro evolution. Introduced species are seen to be effected by it.
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christoffpow
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Darwin/Wallace theory of natural selection states that characteristics favorable to the survival of an organism in their environment will be selected for, and over time, new species will appear encompassing those same characteristics best suited to that environment.
Modern example of natural selection:
Before the industrial revolution (somewhere near the 1900's i presume) there were two types of colored peppered moths, black and white. During the industrial revolution, coal began to be used as a source of fuel, and soon the surrounding environment turned to an ashy black (soot on trees) because of it. Due to the change in environment, white moths tended to be preyed upon much more easily due to their contrast with the black environment. Black moths however, were easily camouflaged among the trees and so were not preyed upon as easily. Eventually, white moths became extinct, while the black phenotype survived, and therefore could reproduce.
The black color (characteristic) of the peppered moth (organism) were best suited to their survival (via camouflage) in the change of environment (black soot on trees).
This is an exact example of Darwin/Wallace's theory of natural selection.
Timothy.Siu
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marcquelle
a.k.a. Michael...Hi!
^^ lols
methicillin resistant s. aureus
methicillin resistant s. aureus
We should be careful with the pepperared moth example, as I read an article last year in Nature, in which the said example, was experimented. I cannot fully remember the result of it, and neither the methodology nor conclusion, but it was against the original hypothesis proposed at the time. If you are going to use that example, at least update it with modern information.
Kwayera
Passive-aggressive Mod
Don't use peppered moth - a better "modern" example of that vintage is Darwin's finches.