A Peppered Moth Game Worksheet

Peppered Moth Game Objective: Simulate changes in moth population due to pollution and predation, and observe how species can change over time. Peppered Moth 1) Where do peppered moths live? _England, Europe, North America____ 2) How do the moth larvae survive predators? __Live in trees that are covered in small lichens ____ 3) What do the moths do during the winter? _change into cocoons_______ 4) What color is the “typical” version of the moths? __light colored____ What color is the “carbonaria” version? _dark/almost black______ 5) How do adult moths survive predation? ___ Fly at night and have good camouflage ______ Natural Selection 6) What was the industrial revolution? _Factories were being built that ran on coal and that caused dark smoke to cover the area ______ 7) What was causing the change in the color of the moths? _The Color is genetic, and the color was passed on to each generation. It was caused by a mutation in the DNA. ___ 8) What is natural selection? __species with characteristics will survive if they are better adapted to the environment ______ 9) Why would dark moths have an advantage? __They had more time to breed because they lived longer than the white moths in the dark forest____ Dr. Kettlewell 10) What is an entomologist? _someone who studies insects___ 11) How do scientists test theories? _They make predictions based on the theory and then they test the prediction and observe the findings ___ 12) Dr. Kettlewell predicted that clean forests would have ____lighter___ colored moths and polluted forests would have ____darker______ colored moths. 13) How did Kettlewell test his hypothesis? _He placed light and dark moths on tree trunks where he could observe them and then he recorded the times a bird found the moth. ___ 14) How did Kettlewell determine if moths lived longer than others? By monitoring the amount of dark and light-colored moths on the light and dark trees and seeing how many were caught by birds Play the Game – obviously you must go through the simulation to complete the data table. 15) Complete the data table for the LIGHT forest and for the DARK forest. Percent (%) Dark Moths Percent (%) Light Moths 17% 83% 67% 33% Light Forest Dark Forest Final Analysis 16) Explain how the color of the moths increases or decreases their chances of survival. If a dark colored moth is on a light-colored tree, it is more likely to be caught by birds. If a dark colored moth is on a dark tree however, it is less likely to be caught by a bird and therefore it has more time to reproduce. 17) Explain the concept of natural selection using your moths as an example. The light moths are better suited to the light forest so they can survive better and have greater survival rates as opposed to the dark colored moths. The light moths had an 83% chance of survival and the dark moths only had a 17% chance of survival in the light forest. The moths that are a better fit in the environment survive and reproduce successfully. 18) Predict what would happen if there were no predators in the forest. Would the moth colors have changed? Why or why not? The moth colors would not have changed if there were no predators in the forest because the moths would not have had to camouflage. The point of changing colors was to better blend into their surroundings in order to hide from predators. 19) Efforts to reduce pollution began occurring later in the century. If pollution near factories was reduced, what would happen to the color of the moths? EXPLAIN your answer. If pollution near factories was reduced, the moths would have changed back to light. The moths only changed to darker colored because the factories caused dark smoke in the air allowing the white moths to be easily seen by birds. If there was less pollution, the moths would not need to remain dark to hide from their predators. 20) Kettlewell’s experiment is included in most biology texts as an example of evolution occurring. How do we know that the moths evolved? We know that the moths evolved because they developed an adaptation that allowed them to survive better in their environment. They were also able to reproduce more frequently.