Two million years ago, the rock pocket mice in Pinacate, Arizona, were all sandy colored. Though a black-colored mouse would be born every few thousand years to sandy-colored parents, the black coat color never stuck around in the population About 1.7 million years ago, lava flows covered a portion of Pinacate and darkened some of the rocks Afterward, these rare black-colored offspring became more reproductively successful than ever before 1.7 million years ago Click the following blue links to toggle the adjacent picture to compare the rock pocket mouse population found today with the population 1.7 million years ago In Pinacate, lava flows have just turned some rocks black Which of the following terms can be used to describe only the black fur color trait in regions of Pinacate that contain lava-darkened rocks? O An adaptation O Heritable O A mutation Coat color in rock pocket mice is partly determined by the Mcir gene, which encodes pigment production in certain skin cells. a protein that stimulates To understand how advantageous it was to have the black fur color trait, researchers have made a series of calculations. The following graph shows what percentage of the population would be black or sandy for 2,500 generations following the lava flows. This graph is based on a scenario in which black-colored mice produce 105 surviving offspring for every 100 surviving offspring produced by sandy-colored mice. 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 Generations If instead, black-colored mice were able to produce only 87 surviving offspring for every 100 surviving offspring produced by sandy-colored mice, how would the graph made under this new assumption be different? Note: For each answer choice, you can click “View” to see it plotted on the preceding figure and compare it with the original graph The black frequency would stay at 096 and the sandy frequency at 100%. O The curves would shift to the left. O The curves would shift to the right. View View View These calculations enable scientists to mathematically model a characteristic of living systems called energy flow development metabolism biological evolution