Most mice living on the mainland of Florida are brown, but the mice that live on the sand dunes of the barrier islands have white fur. The differences in color are heritable, determined by genes such as MC1R. It is intuitive that the light color of beach-dwelling mice is an adaptation for blending into their environment—and thus evading predators.

Compare how evolution by inheritance of acquired characters and the theory of evolution by natural selection would explain the observation of white mice living primarily on light soil and brown mice living primarily on dark soil.

Question

Most mice living on the mainland of Florida are brown, but the mice that live on the sand dunes of the barrier islands have white fur. The differences in color are heritable, determined by genes such as MC1R. It is intuitive that the light color of beach-dwelling mice is an adaptation for blending into their environment—and thus evading predators.

Compare how evolution by inheritance of acquired characters and the theory of evolution by natural selection would explain the observation of white mice living primarily on light soil and brown mice living primarily on dark soil.

Accepted Answer

Hi everyone here's the next problem. Before the Industrial Revolution, light colored pepper moths were more abundant than dark colored ones. However, during the Industrial Revolution, dark colored dominated the pepper moth population when the pollution was reduced, the light colored form again, predominated, which the following can lightly likely explain the changes in the pepper moth population. Um To approach this problem, we need to recall that the pepper moths live near trees with light colored bark When pollution was high, the bark of the trees was darkened with soot. So if you can imagine a moth on a tree when the tree has light colored bark, the light colored moth will be more camouflaged when the tree has soot darkened bark. The dark colored moth will have more camouflage. So with that in mind let's look at our answer choices Choice A. Says the dark colors allow them to survive predators by camouflaging in the polluted environment. And this is correct. When the tree bark was darker, the dark moth was camouflaged against that dark colored bark and was less likely to be spotted by its predators, making it more likely to survive and reproduce and pass on that dark colored gene choice B says the color change corresponds to their mating efficiency. Uh This is not correct. It didn't have to do with mating, but with avoiding getting eaten choice C. Says the color change allows them to survive in the sun's radiation. That's not correct. Again, it provides camouflage, preventing them from being eaten by their predators. And finally, Choice D says the gene flow was abrupt ID due to pollution. Uh No, not a correct answer. Uh The pollution changed the color of their surroundings of the tree that they would land on. Uh So I didn't do anything to the gene flow. So again, which of the following can likely explain the changes in the pepper moth population from light to dark back to light. Again, I say, the dark colors allowed them to survive predators by camouflaging in the polluted environment. See you in the next video.

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Key Concepts

Evolution by Inheritance of Acquired Characters

Natural Selection

Genetic Variation and Heritability