Adaptation driven by environmental pressures is a cornerstone of evolutionary biology. The peppered moth’s shift from light to dark coloration during the Industrial Revolution, due to soot-covered trees offering better camouflage for darker moths, serves as a classic example. This change in coloration directly impacted the moths’ survival rates, with darker moths becoming more prevalent in polluted areas because they were less likely to be preyed upon by birds. This illustrates how environmental changes can lead to shifts in the frequency of specific traits within a population over time.
Understanding how organisms adapt is crucial for comprehending the diversity of life on Earth. It provides insights into the ongoing evolutionary processes shaping populations and ecosystems, and has implications for fields like conservation biology, medicine, and agriculture. Recognizing the mechanisms of adaptation allows scientists to predict how species might respond to future environmental changes, such as climate change or the introduction of new diseases. The historical context, particularly the development of Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, provides the framework for interpreting these adaptive changes.
