Dissosteira Carolina, Essay Example

The Carolina grasshopper, Dissosteira Carolina, is a species that has a vast range throughout the continental United States.  Its color variation ranges from brown to golden.  It eats grasses and other vegetation.

A population of Carolina grasshoppers had become isolated in mountain valley in Colorado.  The population that lived in the valley had a coloration that allowed it to blend in well with the golden dry grasses that were normal to this area.  Birds, their main predator, could not see them since they blended so well into the grass.  However, the mountain valley where the species was living underwent a sudden change.  Rainfall became more intense and the grass started to grow thick and green.  The golden grasshoppers stood out very well on the green grass and were more often eaten by birds.

Within the population of grasshoppers were individuals with a more greenish coloring.  When the grass was more golden, these individuals got eaten off more quickly because they stood out against the golden grass.  However, when the grass became greener, the green grasshoppers had an edge.  They blended in better and thus lived longer.  They began to pass their recessive genes onto future generations and slowly the isolated population began to be one that was mainly green in color since this was the evolutionary trait that was now favored for survival in the environment.

After time the population of Carolina grasshoppers living in the Colorado valley changed from having the traditional golden coloring to being a population with a bright green coloring because ones that were born with the golden coloring were quickly eaten and did not survive to pass their genes onto future generations.

References

Carolina Grasshopper Dissosteira Carolina Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 912 Species Fact Sheet, March 1996.  Web.  Retrieved Apr. 14, 2010 from http://www.sidney.ars.usda.gov/grasshopper/ID_Tools/F_Sheets/pdfs/Carolina.pdf

Audesirk, Gerald, Audesirk, Teresa and Byers, Bruce. Biology: Life on Earth, 8^th Edition.  Pearson Education, 2008.