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 sentences, describe how mosquitoes may have come to develop this resistance.
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Mosquitoes likely developed a resistance to DDT through a process of natural selection. Mosquitoes that had a genetic mutation making them less susceptible to DDT were more likely to survive and reproduce, passing on their resistant traits to the next generation. Over time, the population of mosquitoes became increasingly resistant to DDT as those individuals with the mutation survived and multiplied.
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