Adaptation

Adaptation is the evolutionary process where an organism becomes better suited to its habitat.^[1][2] This process takes place over many generations.^[3] It is one of the basic phenomena of biology.^[4]

When people speak about adaptation, they often mean a 'feature' (a trait) which helps an animal or plant survive. An example is the adaptation of horses' teeth to grinding grass. Grass is their usual food; it wears the teeth down, but horses' teeth continue to grow during life. Horses also have adapted to run fast, which helps them to escape their predators, such as lions. These features are the product of the process of adaptation.

The illustration of bird beaks shows an obvious sign of their different ways of life. However, eating a different food also means having a different digestive system, gut, claws, wings and above all, different inherited behaviour. For the major adaptations, what changes is not a single trait, but a whole group of features.

Adaptation occurs because the better adapted animals are the most likely to survive, and to reproduce successfully. This process is known as natural selection; it is the basic cause of evolutionary change.^[5]

1. ↑ The Oxford Dictionary of Science defines adaptation as "Any change in the structure or functioning of an organism that makes it better suited to its environment".
2. ↑ Bowler P.J. 2003. Evolution: the history of an idea. California. p10
3. ↑ Patterson C. 1999. Evolution. Natural History Museum, London. p1
4. ↑ Williams, George C. 1966. Adaptation and natural selection: a critique of some current evolutionary thought. Princeton. "Evolutionary adaptation is a phenomenon of pervasive importance in biology." p5
5. ↑ Ridley, Mark. 2003. Evolution. Part 3: Adaptation and natural selection. 3rd ed, Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-0345-9. Contents [1]