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 natural selection. Initially, there may have been some mosquitoes in the population with genetic variations that made them less susceptible to the effects of DDT. When DDT was used heavily, the mosquitoes that were not resistant were killed off, leaving behind only the resistant individuals to reproduce and pass on their resistant genes to their offspring. Over time, this natural selection process allowed for the evolution of a population of mosquitoes that were resistant to DDT.
use simpler terms
Sure! When DDT was used to kill mosquitoes, some mosquitoes had genes that made them able to survive the DDT. These mosquitoes were the only ones left to reproduce and pass on their genes, while the others died. As a result, more and more mosquitoes with the genes for resistance to DDT were born, making the population resistant to the insecticide.
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