Name: ______________________________________ Date: ________________________

Student Exploration: Natural Selection

Vocabulary: biological evolution, camouflage, Industrial Revolution, lichen, morph, natural

selection, peppered moth

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

The peppered moth (Biston betularia) is a common moth found in Europe, Asia, and North
America. It is commonly found in two forms, or morphs: a
dark morph and a light, speckled morph. Birds are a
frequent predator of the peppered moth.

1. Which morph do you think would be easier to see on a

dark tree trunk? ___light

moths____________________________

2. Which morph do you think would be easier to see on a

light tree trunk? ___dark

moths____________________________

Gizmo Warm-up
The Natural Selection Gizmo™ allows you to play the role of
a bird feeding on peppered moths. The initial population of
40 moths is scattered over 20 tree trunks. Click on moths to
capture them. Click the Next tree button (or the spacebar
on your keyboard) to advance to the next tree.

1. Check that LIGHT TREES is selected. Click Play ( ),

and hunt moths for one year.

A. How many dark moths did you capture?

__12_____
 B. How many light moths did you capture?
__6_____

C. Camouflage is coloring or patterns that help an organism to blend in with the

background. Which type of moth is better camouflaged on light bark? ____light

speckled movie________

2. If a forest contained mostly light-colored trees, which type of moth would you expect to be

most common? __the light speckled moth other than the

dark.__________________________________________________________

Get the Gizmo ready:

Activity A:
● Click Reset ( ).
Light trees
● Check that the LIGHT TREES tab is selected.

Introduction: Before the 19th century in England, the air was very clean. The bark on trees was
usually light in color. Abundant lichens growing on tree trunks also lightened their appearance.

Question: How does the color of a peppered moth affect survival?

1. Predict: Over time, what will happen to the populations of light and dark moths on light

trees? ____the dark moth population will decrease and the light moths will continue to

reproduce.________________________________________________________________

2. Experiment: Click Play and hunt peppered moths on light tree trunks for five years. In each
year, try to capture as many moths as you can. Note: You can use the spacebar on your
keyboard to quickly advance to the next tree.

After 5 years, select the TABLE tab and record the percentages of each moth type. (Note: The
table shows current populations of each moth, not the number of captured moths.)

Year Dark moths Light moths

0 50% 50%
1 50% 50%
2 41% 59%
 3 39% 61%
4 28% 72%
5 29% 71%

3. Analyze: What do your results show? ____the dark moth population is decreasing while the
lights are increasing_______________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

4. Apply: Which type of moth do you think was more common before the 19th century, when

most trees were light in color? __the light moths because they camouflage easily with the

trees rather than the dark moths. _______________________________________________

Get the Gizmo ready:

Activity B:
● Click Reset.
Dark trees
● Select the DARK TREES tab.

Introduction: The 19th century was the time of the Industrial Revolution in England. Most of
the new industries used coal for energy, and the air was polluted with black soot. In forests near
factories, the soot coated trees and killed lichens. As a result, tree trunks became darker.

Question: How did air pollution affect moth populations?

1. Predict: Over time, what will happen to the populations of light and dark moths on dark

trees? ___light moth population will decrease while dark moth population

increases._________________________________________________________________

2. Experiment: Click Play and hunt peppered moths on dark tree trunks for five years. In each
year, try to capture as many moths as you can.

When you are done, select the TABLE tab and record the percentages of each moth type.

Year Dark moths Light moths

0 50% 50%
1 57% 43%
 2 88% 13%
3 77% 23%
4 100% 0%
5 100% 0%

3. Analyze: What do your results show? ____the dark moth population increased all the way to
100% and the light moths decreased all the way to 0%
_______________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

4. Apply: Which type of moth do you think was more common during the 19th century? Why?

_______the dark moths because the trees were covered in soot from the air pollution helping
them to better blend in. Therefor more reproduction throught the dark moths causing their
population to increase.
__________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

(Activity B continued on next page)

Activity B (continued from previous page)

5. Draw conclusions: Natural selection is the process by which favorable traits tend to
increase in frequency over time. How does this experiment illustrate natural selection?

_The trait of color determined which moth population increased versus which population
decreased. If the tree color was dark, then the white moths would stick out, causing them to
be seen by predators easier.If the tree color was light, then the dark moths would be visible
to predators and cause the moths to disappear in population.

___________________________________

6. Think and discuss: Did the changes you observed in the moth populations result from
individual moths changing colors? Or did they occur because the best-hidden moths
survived and reproduced, passing on their colors to their offspring? Explain your answer.

_____This is because the best hidden moths were better camouflaged causing them to live on
and reproduce that gene whether it be light or dark.
____________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________