Question

4. Assume that you just started doing some research in evolutionary biology and your undergraduate project involves studying an insect species that mimic tree leaves. You suspect that mimicry in this insect is an adaptation to evade predators. How can you test whether natural selection is operating in your study population to produce an adaptation against predators? A fully correct answer will incorporate the assumptions that must be met for natural selection to occur.

Answer 1

Assume that the Natural selection increases the survival fitness of an individual. To test whether the natural selection is being occurred or not, grow the organisms under a selective pressure and observe the organisms for multiple generations to observe whether a particular trait that filter the selective pressure is inherited by the offspring. The variation should also offer some reproductive advantage. By comparing the survival ability of organisms with the adaptations and those without adaptation helps to determine whether natural selection is operating or not.