A heritable trait that improves an organism's survival and reproduction in its environment.
Adaptations can be structural, physiological or behavioural. They evolve by selection over many generations, not within an individual's lifetime. Not every trait is an adaptation; some arise by drift or as by-products.
Adaptation is always relative to an environment and can become maladaptive if conditions change.
A heritable trait that improves an organism's survival and reproduction in its environment.
Adaptation is one of the 53 topics in Evolution. It is rated Beginner, so it suits learners who are starting out in biology. Related topics in this area include Evolutionary Trade-offs, Natural Selection, Convergent Evolution.
The streamlined body of dolphins reduces drag in water, and camel kidneys conserve water.
Adaptation is a Beginner topic, so no earlier topic is required. Other Beginner topics in Evolution that pair well with it include Evolution, Natural Selection, Charles Darwin.
The closest topics to Adaptation are Evolutionary Trade-offs, Natural Selection, Convergent Evolution, Evolution. Comparing them side by side is a good way to see how the ideas connect.
Read the summary and the in-depth section, then use the quick check on the interactive lesson for Adaptation. To practise the whole of Evolution, use the Evolution quiz.
Adaptation: A heritable trait that improves an organism's survival and reproduction in its environment. Evolutionary Trade-offs: Improving one trait often costs another, constraining which adaptations can evolve. Read both side by side and note what each one explains.
First, read the summary and write the definition in your own words. Second, read the in-depth section and note any example. Third, compare it with Evolutionary Trade-offs and explain the difference aloud. Finally, take the Evolution quiz and come back to this page for any question you miss.
Improving one trait often costs another, constraining which adaptations can evolve.
🦎 EvolutionIndividuals with traits better suited to their environment survive and reproduce more, passing those traits on.
🦎 EvolutionUnrelated lineages evolve similar traits because they face similar selective pressures.
🦎 EvolutionChange in the inherited characteristics of populations over successive generations.
🦎 Evolution