Peppered Moth Examples

The gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) is a highly disruptive species that can, and has played a distinctive role in the lives of many organisms. Included in these organisms are various deciduous trees and shrubs, wildlife species that share the same environment, and even humans. The gypsy moth destroys the beauty of woodlands via defoliation, alters ecosystems and wildlife habitats, and disrupts our own lives. It should therefore come as no surprise that the U.S. Department of Agriculture and many other agencies have taken huge steps to help diminish populations of this small, yet persistent species. In an effort to control these overwhelming populations, five chemical control agents have

In this experiment, vestigial flies as well as wild type flies were used to create some diversity as well as test one of our hypotheses. Our hypotheses are as follows; 1) The wild type flies will have a greater relative fitness compared to the vestigial flies based on only sexual selection.  The wild type has a relative fitness of 1 since it has fully functional wings.  Vestigial Winged flies are not as sexually appealing since their wings are not functional and the wing movement is a vital part of their mating ritual.  2) The vestigial fly will have a greater relative fitness when considering both sexual and natural selection. With the presence of

Wash any jars or cans you are putting back into the pantry in hot soapy water. When restocking your pantry, always place the food in jars with a rubber ring and metal clasp or sealed plastic containers. Zipper bags will not work. Your food must be protected by something more than a bag to keep pantry moths at bay.

The Moths by Helena Maria Viramontes is a short story about a relationship between a teenage girl and her abuelita. Although, the title seems unfitting for a story about a loving relationship between family members the significance of the moths, in this story, has a much deeper meaning than one would think. Like many other aspects of the piece, the insects have a symbolic meaning in order to convey the author’s feelings during the time of her grandmother’s death. Throughout the story we see the use of multiple descriptions, settings, as well as dialogue in order to pass a message to the audience. The Moths is not only a story about death and brokenness, but a story about cures and peace. Upon further examination of this narrative, the story presents symbolic attributes about the main characters personalities, descriptions, and religious imagery that tell the story about a cure for brokenness, a rebirth of hope, and coming of age.

The Peppered Moths Model in NetLogo stimulates a classic example of natural selection that involves the changes of colors in the peppered moth population of Manchester, England during the 1800s. One important aspect of this model is the plot feature which graphs the number of light, medium, and dark color moths, and the pollution rate over a period of time. While the monitor widgets can also track these information at real time, the plot allows us to view past information that were collected, not just the current data. Another interesting thing about the plot is that it works by using several “pen update commands” which execute the global variables (light, medium, dark color moths, and population) that were already created in the code section

For many individuals, life may seem boring and pointless throughout most of their day. They might feel empty at times and question themselves who they really are. Although most of their time is spent doing tasks in their everyday lives, there are those interests in which they look forward to doing. These interests may range depending on the person. It may be watching television for some, playing games for others, or simply spending time with your loved ones in which you enjoy and make you feel like yourself. This was the case for the individual in “The Moths” by Helena Maria Viramontes. She hated being at her house because everyone around her made her seem like she was not the typical girl, so she spent as much time as possible at her

Do you remember the last time you took a bath? A bath filled with bubbles, perhaps with a younger sibling? What about the last time you stood in a bath, holding your dead grandmother, naked as moths came out of her mouth? In the short story “The Moths”, by Helena Maria Viramontes, a young Latina misfit granddaughter matures the moment her grandmother dies. Compared to her relationship with her parents and her siblings, the bond she carried with her Abuelita was special. She found comfort with her after receiving several whippings, broken her arm, puberty and even her first lie. (1) She would gladly help her out with her gardening or cooking, although they hardly spoke, or hardly looked at each other as they worked. Although she was rebellious and callous, human experience is conveyed through magical realism, exemplifying the narrator’s vulnerability towards her grandmother.

The simulation accurately demonstrates the variation in traits and the ability of the best adapted to survive easier when simulating the process of natural selection. However, the simulation doesn’t accurately demonstrate natural selection due to the lack of heredity. In the game, the light and dark moths flew across the screen in the same numbers throughout the simulation, not showing how there would be less and less of the moths that weren’t the same color as the forest, which is how heredity works in the real world. In the Light Tree Forest, the average percentage of dark moths that remained was 49.3%, and the average percentage of light moths that remained was 50.6%. Since there wasn’t a dwindling of the population of black moths, for many

Natural selection is an important component of evolution. Natural selection occurs when some members of a population are better fit for survival and reproduction than the others in that population (Phelan 284-85, 2011). The environment in which organisms live plays a part in natural selection as well. Depending on the conditions of the environment, the organisms may pass down selected traits to their offspring. These selected traits will allow for the next generation to better adapt and survive longer. One example of evolution that has occurred in the past ten years is that of hypolimnas bolina, or the blue moon butterfly. The blue moon butterfly evolved through the process of natural selection in order to survive. The male blue moon

The Argentine Cactus Moth, Cactoblastis cactorum Berg (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), an invasive insect in North America, poses the serious threat to native, endangered opuntioid species in the southeastern USA as well as with the potential to cause a major infestation of commercial and agricultural cactus crops in Mexico. The Cactus Moth was first reported in the Florida Keys in 1989 and later spread throughout the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States. The Cactus moth outbreak in the southeastern US possibly will affect the entire desert ecosystem because wild opuntioid species of these regions provide nesting sites and food for a variety of wildlife and contribute to soil stability. Efforts to control the North American spread of the

According to Darwin and his theory on evolution, organisms are presented with nature’s challenge of environmental change. Those that possess the characteristics of adapting to such challenges are successful in leaving their genes behind and ensuring that their lineage will continue. It is natural selection, where nature can perform tiny to mass sporadic experiments on its organisms, and the results can be interesting from extinction to significant changes within a species.

As a naturalist, Darwin discovered how the type species interact differently from the species from other locations that were nearby. That discovery concluded to be the proposal of “natural selection,” which is a principle that explains that nature selects the

The Argentine cactus moth, Cactoblastis cactorum Berg (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) was first discovered in the United States in 1989 and has now become a major threat to ~31 species of Opuntia cactus, nine of which are endemic and six of which have been designated as rare or endangered. Since the initial finding of C. cactorum in Florida, the moth has spread along the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts and now occurs as far west as Louisiana and as far north as North Carolina. Following the termination of the sterile insect technique (SIT) in 2012, the efforts to control the spread of the cactus moth have focused on population management through classical biological control. Apanteles opuntiarum Martínez & Berta (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), the parasitoid

The Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Hubner) is one of the most commonly reported pests of stored grains in the United States. In Pennsylvania it is not a major problem, but can be troublesome occasionally. Larvae of the Indian meal moth feed upon grains, grain products, dried fruits, nuts, cereals, and a variety of processed food products. The Indian meal moth is also a common pantry pest.

This means they were eaten by predators more often and thus could not produce as often. The black moths on the other hand could blend in easier and survive to reproduce more often. Overtime, the majority of the black moths had turned black. This is evidence to Darwin’s theory because it shows how species constantly change and adapt to meet the needs of their environment (Reece, 2011).