7 .
4
s e l e c t i o n
N a t u r a l
By Tiara.R
Topics
Bacteria and Peppered Extinction
Antibiotics Moths
B a c t e r i a
& A n t i b i o t i c s
What are antibiotics?
Antibiotics are medicinal drugs that we can take to cure
diseases caused by bacteria. There are many different
antibiotics. However, doctors find that some antibiotics
do not work anymore. Bacteria have become resistant to
them.
Resistant Bacteria
1 2 3
In a population of bacteria The resistant ones can now
Antibiotic is added, which
not everyone is alike. By multiply and form a
kills the bacteria that are not
chance, one may have a gene population of resistant
resistant.
that makes it resistant to bacteria by itself.
antibiotics.
Pe p p e r e d
Mo t h s
What are peppered moths?
Peppered moths live in England. Most peppered moths
have pale wings, but some have a gene that gives them
dark wings. Peppered moths fly at night, and spend the
daylight hours resting on tree trunks, they are hunted
and eaten by birds. The pale colour of peppered moths
camouflages them perfectly against lichen-covered tree
bark. (Lichen is a plant like organism that grows on rocks
and trees.)
Natural selection
Until the year 1849, almost all peppered moths were pale.
Then more and more dark ones started to appear. By
1900, almost all peppered moths near some English cities
were dark ones.
What happened?
During this time, the industrial revolution was taking place in
England. Many factories burnt coal, which polluted the air
with smoke. The smoke killed lichens and made the tree
trunks dark.
Scientists had done experiments that shows that birds can see
light moths easily on dark tree trunks than on lichen-covered
ones. And they can see dark moths more easily on lichen-covered
tree trunks than on dark ones.
Now we can explain why the dark variety of the moths became
more common. When the trees got darker, the pale moths were
not camouflaged. They were more likely than the dark ones to be
eaten by birds.
Change of genes
The dark moths were more likely to survive and
reproduce than the pale moths. They passed on their
genes for their dark colour to their offspring. Over
several generations of moths, more and more of their
offspring inherited these advantageous genes for dark
colour. Over time, the dark colour became more and more
common. Each generation, more dark moths were born
and fewer pale moths. (Today, pollution in England is
much less, Lichen grows on tree trunks again. Today,
most peppered moths are the pale variety.)
Summary
1 2 3
Dark moths, who survived
During Industrial revolution, Pale moths could no longer started passing their genes
due to production of burnt survive as birds could easily to offspring, which gave a
coal which polluted the air, see them on dark tree trunks, new generation of dark
Lichen died. and thus were eaten. moths, who could survive
without being spotted by
birds.
Ex t i n c t i o n
What if?
The proportions of dark and pale peppered moths
changed over time, when their environment changed. But
imagine what might have happened to peppered moths if
the proportions of pale and dark moths in the population
had not changed, when the tree trunks became darker, if
the moths were still all pale, then most of them would
have been eaten by birds. The population of moths might
have become so small that the peppered moths all died
out. The species might have become extinct.
The problem
Changes in the environment can cause a population to
become extinct, if the species cannot change over time.
Scientists are worried that climate change may cause a
very large number of species to become extinct.
Project Goals
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
consectetur adipiscing elit. consectetur adipiscing elit.
Suspendisse quis enim Suspendisse quis enim
pretium, bibendum ante pretium, bibendum ante
ullamcorper, tincidunt augue. ullamcorper, tincidunt augue.
H A N K
t
Y O U
