Before Industrial Revolution tree bark was lighter in colour so the lighter moths landing on them were well camouflaged and protected from birds, they were therefore in majority to darker moths. During the Industrial Revolution smoke coming out of chimneys in greater amounts had polluted the air in Manchester and other industrial areas, soot had killed the lighter colored lichen and the trees became darker. Lighter moths landing on darker trees were now conspicuous and caught by the birds. The number of lighter moths declined. And the darker/melanic moths rose to the majority as they were now well camouflaged against the darker trees. Evolutionists take this example as the famous proof of observable ''evolution in action'' by means of natural selection, maintaining that in the changing environment lighter moths f. typica had evolved into darker moths f. Carbonaria. British biologist James William Tutt had first noticed this change and attributed the increased number of darker moths to natural selection. In the 1950s British Lepidopterology Kettlewell set out to prove natural selection to be the primary force in the change of moths colour. He performed his experiments in both polluted and unpolluted areas. In polluted areas of Birmingham, he released 447 melanic and 137 Typica and recaptured 27% of melanic and 13% of typica, concluding the melanic ones had the best chances to survive. And In the Unpolutted, well-lichened areas of Dorest, 80% of melanics were eaten by birds and typicas only 17% which lead him to conclude Birds acted as the selective agents and that Industrial melanism was "the most striking evolutionary change ever actually witnessed in any organism." It soon became the classic example of natural selection which took itself in every biology textbook. His experiments, however, were proven to be flawed and unreliable by the subsequent researches. The textbook illustrations of his experiments showed the moths sittings on the tree trunks, while the research by Kauri Mikkola in the early 1980s and by the British geneticist M. Majerus in the 1990s revealed that the Biston Betularia moths don't habitually rest on tree trunks exposing themselves to birds but under the branches of the trees which means Kettlewell had deliberately pinned the moths on the tree trunks to have them photograph even though tree trunks were not the true resting place of moths. ''In almost 40 years only 2 melanics had been seen on tree trunks'', says Micheal Majerus. Moreover, Kettlewell had released Moths in daylight and captured them at night but B. Betularia is nocturnal, it rests during the day and flies at night.
Researchers also found no correlation between the lichens and the
moths, as the decline of melanics was observed before the return of
lichens on the trees after the 1950s anti-pollution laws. Liverpool University biologist Jim Bishop had revealed astonishing research: there were more melanic moths in the unpolluted areas of the wales, which turned out to be the total opposite of Kettlewell's thesis. All these researches had made it clear that Kettlewell's thesis was fallacious and artificial. Because of which his conclusion lacks scientific bases, and unscientific examples should not be taught as scientific ones. What we can infer from all these researches is there existed both forms of moths already in the pre-industrial era, and existed even after the pollution as researchers had both darker and lighter moths to experiment on, all that happened during industrial melanism was the change in the amount of population of darker moths. This
change in moths population does in no way represent an evidence of the
observable evolutionary process, for no new or distinct specie came
into existence. This example could in fact be taken as the best example against evolution that even after pressure from the environment for years, moths remained moths.Biston Betularia (Peppered Moth) Hoax
Before Industrial Revolution tree bark was lighter in colour so the lighter moths landing on them were well camouflaged and protected from birds, they were therefore in majority to darker moths. During the Industrial Revolution smoke coming out of chimneys in greater amounts had polluted the air in Manchester and other industrial areas, soot had killed the lighter colored lichen and the trees became darker. Lighter moths landing on darker trees were now conspicuous and caught by the birds. The number of lighter moths declined. And the darker/melanic moths rose to the majority as they were now well camouflaged against the darker trees. Evolutionists take this example as the famous proof of observable ''evolution in action'' by means of natural selection, maintaining that in the changing environment lighter moths f. typica had evolved into darker moths f. Carbonaria. British biologist James William Tutt had first noticed this change and attributed the increased number of darker moths to natural selection. In the 1950s British Lepidopterology Kettlewell set out to prove natural selection to be the primary force in the change of moths colour. He performed his experiments in both polluted and unpolluted areas. In polluted areas of Birmingham, he released 447 melanic and 137 Typica and recaptured 27% of melanic and 13% of typica, concluding the melanic ones had the best chances to survive. And In the Unpolutted, well-lichened areas of Dorest, 80% of melanics were eaten by birds and typicas only 17% which lead him to conclude Birds acted as the selective agents and that Industrial melanism was "the most striking evolutionary change ever actually witnessed in any organism." It soon became the classic example of natural selection which took itself in every biology textbook. His experiments, however, were proven to be flawed and unreliable by the subsequent researches. The textbook illustrations of his experiments showed the moths sittings on the tree trunks, while the research by Kauri Mikkola in the early 1980s and by the British geneticist M. Majerus in the 1990s revealed that the Biston Betularia moths don't habitually rest on tree trunks exposing themselves to birds but under the branches of the trees which means Kettlewell had deliberately pinned the moths on the tree trunks to have them photograph even though tree trunks were not the true resting place of moths. ''In almost 40 years only 2 melanics had been seen on tree trunks'', says Micheal Majerus. Moreover, Kettlewell had released Moths in daylight and captured them at night but B. Betularia is nocturnal, it rests during the day and flies at night.
Researchers also found no correlation between the lichens and the
moths, as the decline of melanics was observed before the return of
lichens on the trees after the 1950s anti-pollution laws. Liverpool University biologist Jim Bishop had revealed astonishing research: there were more melanic moths in the unpolluted areas of the wales, which turned out to be the total opposite of Kettlewell's thesis. All these researches had made it clear that Kettlewell's thesis was fallacious and artificial. Because of which his conclusion lacks scientific bases, and unscientific examples should not be taught as scientific ones. What we can infer from all these researches is there existed both forms of moths already in the pre-industrial era, and existed even after the pollution as researchers had both darker and lighter moths to experiment on, all that happened during industrial melanism was the change in the amount of population of darker moths. This
change in moths population does in no way represent an evidence of the
observable evolutionary process, for no new or distinct specie came
into existence. This example could in fact be taken as the best example against evolution that even after pressure from the environment for years, moths remained moths.
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