Question

What is industrial melanism? Who studied it?

Answer 1

Industrial melanism is the evolution of dark body colors in animal species that live in habitats blackened by industrial soot. The phenomenon has been documented in numerous species that hide from predators by blending in with their backgrounds. Peppered moths are one good example of this. Initially, they were pale grey, but after their habitats became polluted with soot from coal‐fired industries, melanic (black) phenotypes became numerous and spread to other regions.

The geneticist Bernard Kettlewell has extensively studied about the industrial melanism.