In 9th grade work and writing Mosquitoes can carry and transmit many diseases to humans. In the past, the insecticide DDT was heavily used to reduce mosquito populations in order to reduce instances of disease transmission. However, after some time, mosquito populations developed a resistance to DDT, which made the DDT less effective in reducing mosquito populations.
Based on what you’ve learned about natural selection, in 3–5 sentences, describe how mosquitoes may have come to develop this resistance.
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Mosquitoes may have developed resistance to DDT through the process of natural selection. In a population of mosquitoes, there may have been a small number of individuals that had a genetic mutation that made them less susceptible to the effects of DDT. When DDT was heavily used, these resistant mosquitoes were able to survive and reproduce, passing on their resistant genes to their offspring. Over time, the population became dominated by mosquitoes with this resistance, making the DDT less effective in controlling their numbers. This process demonstrates how environmental pressures can drive the evolution of populations over time.
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