Before 1800, most peppered moths in england were light–colored. during the industrial revolution, soot and industrial wastes darkened tree trunks. gradually, the light–colored moths became rare, and the dark–colored ones became abundant. what role did natural selection play?

Natural selection allowed physically fit dark colored moths to survive and mate to produce more physically fit offspring.

Explanation:

Due to their dark color, the dark colored moths were not identified by their predators easily. However, the light colored moths were easily identified and preyed upon.  

In this way the population of light colored moths reduced largely, thereby allowing more and more mating of light colored moth with dark colored moth or mating of dark colored moth with another dark colored moth so that environmentally fit offspring could be produced which have the capability to save themselves from the predator or any other harm.  

In this way natural selection allowed a shift in color of moth from lighter shade to a darker shade.