Biology 11 - I need some help with evolution questions (quite long)?

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ALLIE

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Okay I got this case study sheet about the peppered moth. It's pretty much about how in the 19th century in England there were a lot of peppered moth (which are moths that are white with specks) that blend well into the light colored lichens (trees) since there was no pollution. But then the industrial revolution came about and these light colored trees became dark due to the sulfur dioxide being released which coated the trees in dust, soot and dirt. The peppered moths lessen and the melanic moths started to dominate. The melanic moths were moths that were darker and were quite rare before the industrial revolution, they form due to a single mutation from the white moths.

Okay my question is if the environment caused the selection pressure for change, what was the actual selectin gagent in this case? Which means what caused the change in the number of moths to increase or decrease?

It was the tree bark because as the colour in the tree bark change more moths were more vulnerable to be eaten than others. But I also thought it could be the predators eating the moths itself that could have caused this change?

I know this is quite long, so I'll definitely give the best answer to anyone who attempts my questions! Thanks!
 
This is a simple example of natural selection, with the moth's predators as the selection agent. Moths that were easier to see against the tree bark were more likely to be eaten and less likely to survive to reproduce.
 
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