Adaptation Definition

The word “adapt” comes from the Latin “adaptus,” which means “I fit” or “I adjust to.” It’s a term used frequently in ecology and evolutionary biology. The organism tends to adapt in order to better suit or match its surroundings. Adaptation is not the same as acclimatisation. Both words refer to the process of transformation. Acclimatization, on the other hand, is the physiological adjustment to new conditions; it does not, however, imply an increase in species variety, as adaption does. A characteristic must be heritable, functional, and enhance fitness to be called an adaptation.

The creatures adapt to their environment in order to survive and pass their genes on to the next generation, according to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. Several species in the environment co-adapt and, as a result, co-evolve. Take the symbionts in a lichen relationship, for example. Because the absence of one implicates mortality, the algal and fungal components prefer to co-evolve. They must adapt and survive together, since they are reliant on one another’s survival.

Adaptations are necessary for the survival of a species. The species’ adapted characteristics may be structural (i.e. physical adaptive qualities), behavioural (e.g. vocalisations, courtship rituals, nesting, and mating), or physiological (e.g. vocalisations, courtship rituals, nesting, and mating) (e.g. developing resistance to diseases or to toxic chemicals).