DDT was once considered a "silver bullet" that would permanently eradicate insect pests. Today, instead, DDT is largely useless against many insects. What would need to be true for pest eradication efforts to have been successful in the long run?

Some insects had genes that made them to be resistant to the effects of DDT. Hence, these few usually survive whenever DDT is applied to their environments. The few surviving ones thus reproduce in the environment, pass the DDT-resistant gene on to their offspring and give rise to a population of insect that are resistant to DDT.

Hence, if none of the earlier insects possessed the DDT-resistant gene, it would not have been possible for the insect population to evolve and pest eradication efforts using DDT would have been successful in the long run.

The correct option is option 4.

Histrionicus Histrionicus · Answer 2 · 2025-03-25T06:56:53-04:00

DDT was once considered a "silver bullet" that would permanently eradicate insect pests. Today, instead, DDT is largely useless against many insects, the option that needs to be true for pest eradication efforts to have been successful in the long run - All individual insects should have possessed genomes that made them susceptible to DDT.

DDT is a pesticide used to eradicate pests but due to its overuse pest developed genes that are resistant to DDT and it became ineffective as insects evolved by natural selection.

The genes that help them to make them be resistant to the effects of DDT would always help them survive whenever DDT is applied to their environments.
If all the insects in this environment have only DDT susceptible genes in their genome then DDT would be able to eradicate them as they lack the resistant gene.
If there will be no resistant gene then DDT would be effective in the long run.

Thus, DDT was once considered a "silver bullet" that would permanently eradicate insect pests. Today, instead, DDT is largely useless against many insects, the option that needs to be true for pest eradication efforts to have been successful in the long run - All individual insects should have possessed genomes that made them susceptible to DDT.

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