Page 181 - The Evolution Impasse 1

179

Industrial Melanism

In the 18 th and 19 th centuries, enor-
mous changes took place in the industri-
al sphere first in Britain and then in other
West European countries and America.
Particularly in Great Britain, color chan-
ges were observed in some populations
of animals due to the air pollution that
increased with the Industrial Revolution.
Industrial melanism is an expression of
color changes allowed animals to camo-
uflage themselves better.
Evolutionists attempt to account for
these observed differences in color as na-

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the situation stems from a complete mi- t there is no evolution at work here, because e
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sinterpretation of observed phenomena. n no new species of moth emerged. The pic- -
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The most striking contemporary example
of this directed selection is the evolution
of protective colouring demonstrated by
areas, since the soot from the chimneys
two Oxford University researchers called
darkened these lichens, white moths be-
Ford and Kettlewell. They discovered that
gan to become more visible. In contrast,
one kind of moth living in regions of Bri-
dark-coloured moths were better adapted.
tain with a large number of factory chim-
Since birds hunted the white moths, dar-
neys were darker than moths living in ot-
ker moths began to predominate and the
her regions. It is known from collections
genotype possessed by these began in-
that specimens previously collected (befo-
creasing in the population. White forms
re industrialisation) were lighter in colo-
have today again begun to predominate
ur. Since the lighter-coloured moths lived
in those regions of Britain in which air
on white and light coloured lichens found 222
pollution has been eradicated.
around tree trunks outside industrial regi-
ons, they adapted well to their environ- The point to be noted here is the pre-
ment and were able to avoid attracting sence of black moths caught prior to the
the notice of predator birds. In industrial beginning of the Industrial Revolution in
Harun Yahya (Adnan Oktar)