Disrtibution of moths

[sunnygirl]

Disrtibution of moths

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Post by sunnygirl » Wed Aug 02, 2006 8:43 pm

I recently learned about moths that rnged from light to dark and how they were affected by the poluution darkening the trees, i got all of that down, but in my biology study guide it talks about "Lamarck's theories" now ive read my book over several times and could not find anything on this person so if any of you out there know anything PLEASE let me know!

[James]

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Post by James » Wed Aug 02, 2006 11:18 pm

You might want to research about peppered moths. Lamarck developed a theory of evolution based on the inheritance of acquired characters, ie characteristics learnt during the parent's life would pass on to the offspring. However his theory was wrong, and Darwin had a better attempt.

[sunnygirl]

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Post by sunnygirl » Thu Aug 03, 2006 12:02 am

ok thanks for the suggestion, i did do some research and found what i was looking for, yeah his theory of how animals could change themselves through their behavior is kinda weird

[James]

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Post by James » Thu Aug 03, 2006 12:08 am

Yes and in light of modern genetics it has been invalidated

[sunnygirl]

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Post by sunnygirl » Thu Aug 03, 2006 12:11 am

The only reason the color distribution of the moths changed was because of natural selection, the darker ones were able to blend in with there environment better and passed those favorable genes down to their offspring, correct?

[James]

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Post by James » Thu Aug 03, 2006 12:19 am

Yes, when the pollution increased, the darker coloured moths had a higher likelyhood of surviving and going on the reproduce than the lighter coloured moths. Therefore, the darker coloured moths increased in frequency within the population. Natural selection