Adaptation
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
"Observe, for instance, the nose is formed for spectacles, therefore we wear spectacles. The legs are visibly designed for stockings, accordingly we wear stockings." --Dr. Pangloss in Candide, tr. Tobias Smollett |
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In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the population during that process. Thirdly, it is a phenotypic trait or adaptive trait, with a functional role in each individual organism, that is maintained and has evolved through natural selection.
Organisms face a succession of environmental challenges as they grow, and show adaptive plasticity as traits develop in response to the imposed conditions. This gives them resilience to varying environments.
See also
- Film adaptation
- Adaptive evolution in the human genome
- Adaptive memory
- Adaptive mutation
- Adaptive system
- Anti-predator adaptation
- Body reactivity
- Ecological trap
- Evolutionary pressure
- Evolvability
- Intragenomic conflict
- Neutral theory of molecular evolution