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Topic: Melanism

	Case of Industrial Melanism
		Originally rare in the population of normally light-colored moths, the frequency of the melanic form increased in polluted areas until it was over 90%.
		The change was presumed to be a result of natural selection since the melanic moths in polluted areas better matched the flened tree trunks where they rested during the day.
		The line dropping through the white area shows the number of melanic moths as a percentage of the moth population.
	smccd.net /accounts/bucher/melanism.htm (584 words)

	CSC - Second Thoughts about Peppered Moths:
		The percentage of melanics on the Wirral Peninsula, west of Liverpool, dropped from 93% in 1959 to 90% in 1962 (Clarke and Sheppard 1966, Kettlewell 1973).
		A decline of melanism in the peppered moth Biston betularia in The Netherlands.
		Melanism and predation by birds in the moths Biston betularia and Phigalia pilosauria.
	www.discovery.org /scripts/viewDB/index.php?command=view&id=590 (4371 words)

	GreenBooks.TheOneRing.net™ \| Special Guest \| The Science of Middle-earth: Melanism and Middle-earth
		Melanic moths, in contrast, would be better hidden on soot-flened bark, especially on trees where the lichen had been killed by industrial pollution.
		Tutt's hypothesis was repeatedly challenged in the ensuing decades, particularly by researchers who suggested that melanic moths might be darkened by virtue of diet: creatures fed as caterpillars with certain chemicals (such as might be found in industrial pollutants) might grow up darker than their fellows fed more wholesome fare.
		And it is always possible that melanism, which exists as a consequence of genetic variation, is favoured (or not) by natural selection acting on some other trait not directly connected with the color of the animal.
	greenbooks.theonering.net /guest/files/081104_01.html (1859 words)

	Melanism - ArticleWorld
		Melanism or melanosis is a condition of increased numbers of melanocytes or an increased amount of melanin in the skin.
		Most melanism is the result of the entire or nearly entire expression of a dominant gene for dark pigmentation.
		While melanism is usually a genetic condition, it can occur as a response to the environment.
	www.articleworld.org /index.php/Melanism (315 words)

	Melanism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Melanism is an increased amount of fl or nearly fl pigmentation (as of skin, feathers, or hair) of an individual or kind of organism.
		Melanism or abundism triggered by human modification of the environment is known as industrial melanism; the history of this phenomenon in the peppered moth in the United Kingdom is a classic instructional tool for teaching the principles of natural selection.
		Melanism is due to changes in the agouti gene which controls banding of fl and light areas on the hair shaft.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Melanism (801 words)

	Second Thoughts About Peppered Moths
		A decline of melanism in the peppered moth Biston betularia in The Netherlands.
		Melanism and predation by birds in the moths Biston betularia and Phigalia pilosauria.
		Melanism in Biston (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) in the rural central Appalachians.
	www.trueorigin.org /pepmoth1.asp (4679 words)

	pocket mice
		The basis of melanism in the Pinacate rock pocket mice (Chaetodipus intermedius) was found to be four polymorphisms in the gene encoding for the melanocortin-1-receptor (Mc1r).
		The allele in which the polymorphisms necessary for melanism occur receives the name D while the allele without these polymorphisms is d.
		By showing that mice exhibiting melanism and those that do not could have the same mitochondrial DNA, Dr. Nachman's group showed that the mutation was based in the Mc1r gene sequences and not other genetic differences in the species.
	student.biology.arizona.edu /honors2004/group12/mice.html (870 words)

	RedOrbit - Science - The Beauty of Kettlewell's Classic Experimental Demonstration of Natural Selection (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-06)
		Kettlewell's work on the phenomenon of industrial melanism is widely regarded as the classic demonstration of natural selection and one of the most beautiful experiments in evolutionary biology.
		Kettlewell's life work centered on the phenomenon of industrial melanism: the rapid rise in the frequency of heretofore rare dark forms of many moth species in the vicinity of manufacturing centers throughout Britain and continental Europe, which appeared to be a consequence of the first large-scale air pollution associated with the Industrial Revolution.
		Inclusion of the phenomenon of industrial melanism in textbooks is generally misinterpreted as indicative of its theoretical importance to biology.
	www.redorbit.com /news/display?id=145150&source=r_science (4678 words)

	The Nature Institute - Science as Process or Dogma? The Case of the Peppered Moth
		The "peppered moth," Biston betularia, occurs in light and dark (melanic) forms, both of which are shown in Figure 1.
		And as the textbook states, the explanation of industrial melanism appears in view of such images almost "self-evident." This self-evident explanation dissolves when we learn that researchers don't find the moth during the day and that the pictures are composed by the researchers themselves.
		Since there is "more to melanism than meets the eye," peppered moth research can be an excellent teacher of the living scientific process.
	natureinstitute.org /txt/ch/moth.htm (5130 words)

	Don't Cross The Streams
		Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.
		The final month of summer movies which means are the least likely to suck...
		It was cute or at east as cute as a movie about a rat in contact in food can be.
	melanism.com (796 words)

	The Peppered Moth
		The population of dark moths rose and fell in parallel to industrial pollution, and the percentage of dark moths in the population was clearly highest in regions of the countryside that were most polluted.
		As Majerus, the principal scientific critic of Kettlewell's work wrote, "My view of the rise and fall of the melanic form of the peppered moth is that differential bird predation in more or less polluted regions, together with migration, are primarily responsible, almost to the exclusion of other factors." (p.
		What we have to be cautious about is attributing 100% of the work of natural selection in this case to the camouflage of the moths and their direct visibility to birds.
	www.millerandlevine.com /km/evol/Moths/moths.html (1229 words)

	Black Jaguars (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-06)
		The fact that melanism is extremely frequent in the jaguar is explained by the fact that, unlike in the leopard, melanism is dominant over normal colouring in the leopard.
		This dominant melanism is also found in jungle cats and may be similar to the dominant 'sombre' mutation in mice, while the recessive melanism seen in leopards would be similar to the recessive 'non-agouti' mutation.
		Melanism is frequently observed among the Felidae (Table 1).
	www.bigcats.org /abc/catspecies/blackjaguars.html (429 words)

	The Open Door Web Site : IB Biology : Evolution : Industrial Melanism
		century entomologists noticed that the melanic form of the moth was found in larger numbers in and around industrial regions and regions of dense human population.
		Melanism is genetic in origin and not caused by the environment.
		Because the melanic form is caused by a dominant allele it will appear and disappear quite rapidly form the population if conditions of natural selection change.
	www.saburchill.com /IBbiology/chapters02/028.html (325 words)

	Charles Darwin - The Truth? - ... and Mr Lyell
		is the phenomenon of 'industrial melanism', the appearance and spread of dark forms of a number of species of moths.
		The frequency of melanics was measured in southeastern Michigan from 1960 to 1995, and was found to have dropped from more than 90 per cent to under 20 per cent over that period.
		We actually have no idea when the melanic form of the peppered moth first began to become the dominant form in 19th century England, only when it was first noted by naturalists.
	www3.mistral.co.uk /bradburyac/dar12.html (4252 words)

	From "Melanism: Evolution in Action"
		Photographs of melanic and non-melanic moths taken against matching backgrounds are remarkable not only in regard to color matching but also (particularly for non-melanics) for pattern matching.
		Some or all members of a population will carry the necessary genes to produce melanism, but these genes are only expressed if triggered by some environmental cue.
		If peppered moth melanism falls under this category, then the NDT cannot apply to it, because random, spontaneous mutation is an essential part of the NDT.
	members.tripod.com /aslodge/id84.htm (511 words)

	Article 27
		For example, near Liverpool, England, the melanic phenotype declined from 93 to 18% in 37 generations (one generation per year); this change is consistent with a 15% selective disadvantage to genotypes with the dominant (melanic) allele.
		An inherent physiological advantage of melanic over pale phenotypes is consistent with the rise and spread of melanism, but the widespread decline in melanism that followed the Clean Air Acts obviates that interpretation.
		The history of melanism in American peppered moths--which are conspecific with Kettlewell's moths, not a separate species as Hooper indicates--closely parallels what has occurred in Britain, and melanism is correlated in like manner with levels of atmospheric pollution (2).
	bill.srnr.arizona.edu /classes/182/Melanism/Grant-SourGrapes.htm (1075 words)

	The Evolution of Melanism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		The Evolution of Melanism subtitled A study of recurring necessity with Special Reference to Melanism in the Lepidoptera is a science book by the lepidopterist Bernard Kettlewell.
		The book is somewhat chaotic but full of useful information, including Kettlewell's original papers in Heredity (journal) on his classic predation experiments on the peppered moth.
		It is generally recommended that those seeking to read about melanism should buy Majerus 1998 instead.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/The_Evolution_of_Melanism (222 words)

	Melanism via NDT? (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-06)
		The role of mutation is well established in industrial melanism (see Majerus 1998, and references therein).
		It follows that neither reference shows that the NDT is applicable to peppered moth melanism.
		Dr Musgrave's statement might carry weight with someone who believed that the NDT was always applicable unless there was evidence to the contrary.
	members.tripod.com /aslodge/id85.htm (262 words)

	Black or Melanistic Tigers and other animals.
		Melanism is the opposite of albinism and occurs with about the same frequency.
		Probably the best-known cats in which melanism occurs frequently are the fl leopards and jaguars.
		Unlike albinism which makes animals stand out to predators and prey, melanism assists the concealment of jaguars and leopards on their night hunting raids.
	www.lairweb.org.nz /tiger/black.html (604 words)

	Biodiversity in Belize - Black Jaguars in Belize?
		By the late 1970's, it had been demonstrated conclusively that melanism in jaguars is a result of a dominant allele (Deutsch, 1975; Dittrich, 1979); in spite of this documentation in the literature, the phenomenon was not widely recognized throughout the research community until the late 1980's.
		One probable reason for this misconception, in addition to the situation with leopards, is the fact that the melanistic phase does not occur throughout a large portion of the jaguar's range, and where it does occur it is usually with a lower frequency than the spotted phase (Nowak, 1991).
		Robinson (1970), in a study of melanism in leopards, discovered what appeared to be a reduction in litter size in matings involving two fl individuals, but in this case the melanism is a recessive trait.
	biological-diversity.info /Black_Jaguar.htm (2451 words)

	Peppered moth - EvoWiki (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-06)
		I believe that, without exception, it is our view that the case of melanism in the Peppered moth still stands as one of the best examples of evolution, by natural selection, in action.
		It is important to distinguish the phenomenon of industrial melanism from the hypotheses and theories which might explain the phenomenon in this or that species.
		The use of the word "theory" for the explanation of industrial melanism in the peppered moth is quite deliberate.
	wiki.cotch.net /index.php/Peppered_moth (5445 words)

	Second Thoughts About Peppered Moths (Scientist version): Wells, Jonathan
		When industrial melanism began to decline after the passage of antipollution legislation (presumably because pollution was no longer darkening the tree trunks), the decline seemed consistent with the theory that industrial melanism was due to cryptic coloration and differential bird predation.
		One notable discrepancy in the distribution of melanism was its lack of correlation with lichen cover on tree trunks.
		In the United States, the frequency of melanics in southeastern Michigan dropped from more than 90 percent to less than 20 percent between 1960 and 1995, thus paralleling the decline of melanism in the United Kingdom.
	www.arn.org /docs/wells/jw_pepmothshort.htm (1686 words)

	Amazon.com: Melanism: Evolution in Action : Books: Michael E. N. Majerus (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-06)
		Melanism: Evolution in Action describes a ubiquitous biological phenomenon, the existence of dark forms of many species of mammals, insects, and some plants.
		Melanism is a particularly important phenomenon for understanding evolution.
		It gives a very detailed and refreshing critical orientation on melanism among butterflies and especially the critical review on the classical peppered moth story is very interesting and informative for both laymen and scientists.
	www.amazon.com /Melanism-Evolution-Michael-N-Majerus/dp/0198549822 (654 words)

	Second Thoughts about Peppered Moths
		Kettlewell described industrial melanism in moths as "the most striking evolutionary change ever actually witnessed in any organism" (Kettlewell 1955, p.
		The U. (a) In the 1970’s, the frequency of melanics in an unspoiled forest in southwestern Virginia was about double the frequency in polluted Blacksburg 18 km away; neither lichen cover nor gene flow could explain the difference (West 1977).
		The decline of melanism in the U.S. without perceptible changes in the lichen cover prompted Grant and his colleagues to conclude that "the role of lichens has been inappropriately emphasized in chronicles about the evolution of melanism in peppered moths" (Grant et al.
	www.leaderu.com /science/pepmoth.html (4670 words)

	polymorphism (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-06)
		In regions of industry, melanism occurred in populations of nearby peppered moths, meaning more moths were found to be fl in color rather than speckled and gray.
		This fl color was not helpful to the peppered moth population, because it disallowed the peppered moths to be camouflaged, or blended in with their surroundings, and so the frequency at which they were eaten by predators increased dramatically.
		The population of the oddball moths that were melanic, however, had a dramatic increase in their population, because they were then camouflaged with their surroundings.
	student.biology.arizona.edu /honors2004/group12/polymorphism.html (455 words)

	Untitled Document (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-06)
		The melanics were quite rare 150 years ago, but they became dominant in some highly polluted areas of England.
		The shift from the light to the melanic form has been called the "most striking evolutional change in nature ever to be witnessed by Man" (Kettlewell 1973, 1).
		These pages take you part way toward a model to simulate this change.
	www.wsu.edu /~forda/genetics.html (174 words)

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