Question
Imagine you are a scientist observing rats in the wild. As the rats reproduce, rats born with white fur slowly begin to outnumber rats with black fur. In three to five sentences, provide two or more different explanations of why the rats with white fur might be outnumbering the rats with black fur.(4 points)
1. One explanation for why rats with white fur might be outnumbering rats with black fur could be due to natural selection. In the wild, white fur may provide better camouflage in certain environments, allowing white-furred rats to better evade predators and survive to reproduce. Over time, this advantage could lead to a higher prevalence of white fur in the rat population.
2. Another explanation could be genetic drift. If there is a small initial population of rats with white fur, random factors such as environmental events or mate selection preferences could lead to a higher proportion of white-furred offspring being born. With each generation, this random fluctuation in allele frequency could accumulate, resulting in an increasing number of rats with white fur compared to black fur in the population.