Recent history of melanism in American peppered moths
Recent history of melanism in American peppered moths
复制标题
DOI：
10.1093/jhered/93.2.86
复制
发表时间：
2002-03-01
影响因子：
3.1
通讯作者：
Wiseman, LL
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Grant, BS;Wiseman, LL
英国对胡椒蛾的工业黑化现象进行了最深入的研究。 1848 年，在曼彻斯特附近记录到了第一个黑色素表型（实际上是纯黑色）。到 1895 年，曼彻斯特附近约 98% 的标本都是黑色素的，这种曾经罕见的表型已遍布全国被工业烟尘熏黑的地区。在远离工业中心、未受污染的农村地区，苍白表型（布满白色和黑色鳞片）仍然是主要形式。 20世纪后半叶，随着旨在改善空气质量的立法的实施，黑色素病的发生频率开始下降，曾经常见的黑色素现在已经很少见了。其他地方也发生过类似的进化变化，但英国以外的记录却很零散。我们扩展了之前对美洲花椒蛾种群的调查，并呈现了北部工业州（密歇根州和宾夕法尼亚州）近期黑色素下降的综合图景，这些州的黑色素表型从 1959 年的 90% 以上下降到 2001 年的 6%。我们将这些变化与同期南部州（弗吉尼亚州）几乎没有黑色素的情况进行了对比。与英国一样，随着清洁空气立法的实施，美国胡椒蛾的黑色素病也有所下降。
Industrial melanism in peppered moths has been studied most intensively in Britain. The first melanic phenotype (effectively solid black) was recorded near Manchester in 1848. By 1895 about 98% of the specimens near Manchester were melanic, and this once rare phenotype had spread across regions of the country blackened by industrial soot. In rural, unpolluted regions, well away from industrial centers, the pale phenotype (peppered with white and black scales) remained the predominant form. During the latter half of the 20th century, following legislation designed to improve air quality, melanics began to decline in frequency and are now rare where once they had been common. Similar evolutionary changes have occurred elsewhere, but records from outside Britain are fragmentary. We have extended previous surveys of American peppered moth populations and present a composite picture of the recent decline in melanism in northern industrial states-Michigan and Pennsylvania-where melanic phenotypes decreased from more than 90% in 1959 to 6% by 2001. We contrast these changes to the near absence of melanism in a southern state-Virginia-during that same period. As in Britain, the decline in melanism in American peppered moths followed clean air legislation.