Adaptation
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"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