Adaptation

1. Adaptation SBI 3U November 15th, 2012

2. What is Adaptation? • Adaptation is any trait that enhances an organism’s fitness or that increases its chance of survival and probability of successful reproduction • Example: The Cactus plant

3. How do Adaptations arise? • Through natural selection! • Organisms become adapted to their immediate environment over a period of time through natural selection • Variations  play an important role as well! • In summary, while adaptations are products of natural selection, variations within a species are the raw material upon which natural selection acts

4. Evolution of Complex Adaptations • Adaptations, particularly ones such as the change from a simple variation to a complex variation do not arise all at once, rather ____________________________ • Ex: human eye vs. scallop eye

5. Types of Adaptations • Structural Adaptation • Physiological Adaptation • Behavioral Adaptation

6. Structural Adaptations • Anatomical adaptations • Mimicry • Cryptic Corolation

7. Mimicry • Mimicry enables one species to resemble another species or part of another species • Often harmless mimics harmful

8. Cryptic Corolation • Cryptic Corolationmakes potential prey difficult to spot • Camouflaging • Ex: Phycodorus (sea horse)

9. Physiological Adaptations • Physiological Adaptations are those adaptations associated with functions in organisms • Ex: enzymes needed for blood clotting, proteins used in spiders’ silk, chemical defences of plants, etc;

10. Behavioral Adaptations • Behavioral Adaptations  animals are adapted in how they respond to the environment • Ex: migration

11. In reality… It is unrealistic to isolate and classify adaptations in rigid categories because adaptations often depend upon one another. Ex: bird migration  not possible without all 3 forms of adaptation!