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Adapted From Readworks

The document discusses the concept of natural selection and how it relates to the adaptation of species, specifically the peppered moth, to environmental changes caused by the Industrial Revolution. It explains that species must adapt to survive in changing environments, and provides evidence of how the coloration of the peppered moth changed due to increased pollution making them more visible to predators. The text also references Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection as a framework for understanding these evolutionary changes.

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24 views2 pages

Adapted From Readworks

The document discusses the concept of natural selection and how it relates to the adaptation of species, specifically the peppered moth, to environmental changes caused by the Industrial Revolution. It explains that species must adapt to survive in changing environments, and provides evidence of how the coloration of the peppered moth changed due to increased pollution making them more visible to predators. The text also references Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection as a framework for understanding these evolutionary changes.

Uploaded by

ccbpxprwd2
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Naturally Selected to Survive Name:_______________________#_____

Evolution Date:____________________ Per. ______

After reading the passage, ​Naturally Selected to Survive​, answer the following questions.

1. According to the passage, what happens when organisms cannot adapt to changes in their
environment?
A. They move to another C. Nothing happens.
environment. D. They wait for the environment to change
B. They risk dying out. again
2. What does the author mainly describe in the passage?
A. how natural selection changed the C. how Charles Darwin devised his theory of
color of peppered moths natural selection
B. how the Industrial Revolution D. how many species that have roamed the
improved the lives of workers earth have become extinct
3. Smoke given off by the factories threatened the survival of the peppered moth. What evidence
from the text best supports this conclusion?
A. Soot is a black substance that is collected on a surface that comes into contact with
smoke.
B. When coal burns, it gives off a lot of dark-colored smoke.
C. Predators could see the moths on the black trees covered by soot and easily hunt them
down.
D. The trees began to blacken with soot because of all of the smoke in the air from the
factories.
4. What conclusion can be drawn from the change in the peppered moth’s coloration?
A. The color change had nothing to do with the change in environment.
B. There were previously no dark-colored peppered moths.
C. The lighter peppered moths migrated to a new environment.
D. Darker coloring became better for the peppered moth’s survival.
5. What is natural selection?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
6. How did the peppered moth’s environment change, and what caused this change?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
The earth has changed, over and over again, throughout the course of its history. Some of
these changes have happened quickly. Others have occurred over long stretches of time. For
example, the planet has experienced ice ages that took place over thousands of years. During those
eras, huge sheets of ice covered much of the surface of the globe. Then for a few thousand years
between the ice ages, the earth warmed up. Scientists believe that this cycle has actually occurred a
few times, and it might be one of the many reasons behind the recent global warming we have
experienced.

Adapted from ReadWorks


As the planet goes through this cycle, environments may go through changes. In order to
survive in changing environments, species oftentimes must undergo a process of
adaptation.Adaptation refers to a mutation or genetic change that enables an organism such as an
animal or plant to survive in its environment. This trait is passed down from one generation to the
next, becoming an inherited trait of the species. A species may have to adapt to warmer
temperatures, increased precipitation, or even developing air pollution. If the organisms of a species
cannot change along with the area in which they live, they risk dying out. Though an uncountable
number of species that have roamed the earth have become extinct, the planet has seen many
others adapt as well. These select organisms have been able to go on living in their environment.
A species adapts to a changing environment as organisms with favorable traits reproduce
and survive. These favorable traits, which help the species survive, are passed down through
different generations of the species. This process is called “natural selection.” Recent history has
given us an important example of how organisms are able to survive once their environments
change.
The peppered moth lived in the countryside between the cities of Manchester and London
in England. Many years before the 19th century, these moths had been able to survive in their
environment mostly because of their color. Their thin layer of skin, as well as their large wings, was
mostly gray with a little bit of black “peppered” all around. This color was advantageous because the
gray peppered moths were camouflaged when they stayed on gray-colored areas on the sides of
trees in their habitat. Predators, which were mostly birds, could not see the moths on the trees
because the color of the moths blended in with the color of the trees.
In the early 19th century, though, England began the first years of
its Industrial Revolution. Many cities, like Manchester and London, became
populated by a growing number of factories. This was because companies
began to use a lot of new machinery that had been invented in the
decades before. These machines made work a lot easier in many ways. The
companies could build more products faster than ever before. However,
many of these factories needed coal to provide energy for the machines.
When coal burns, it gives off a lot of dark- colored smoke. Soot is a black
substance that is collected on a surface that comes into contact with
smoke. Smoke’s dark particles stick onto surfaces like paint. In the English
countryside, the trees began to blacken with soot because of all of the smoke in the air from the
factories. This made the peppered moths much more vulnerable. Predators could see the moths on
the trees more clearly and easily hunt them down.
Sometime in the next hundred years,scientists began to notice a huge change in the moth
population living in between the cities of Manchester and London where many of those factories
had been constructed. The skin and wings of the peppered moths had changed color and become
almost completely black! What caused this change was the fact that predators had eaten a lot of the
gray-colored moths because the moths were clearly visible on the black- colored trees. Other darker
colored moths in the area survived much more easily and mated with the peppered moths until the
population of moths became black.
Many scientists feel that this example of evolution in a species supports Charles Darwin’s
theory of natural selection. An author named J.W. Tutt published a report about the moths a few
years after Darwin’s death, writing that the change in the peppered moth population seemed to
support Darwin’s ideas. Though Darwin was not alive to read the Tutt report, his teachings about
nature live on.
Adapted from ReadWorks

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