We explain what the adaptation of living beings is and what types of adaptation exist. Some examples of adaptations.
What is the adaptation of living beings?
In biology, we mean by adaptation of the living beings or biological adaptation to the process in which the latter develop the ability to survive in a different environment, varying their strategies and even its physical characteristics, in order to preserve the life.
Life adapts, thus, to changes both in the abiotic factors (temperature, sunlight, pH, etc.) as in Biotics (new species, extinction, etc.) of their environment, through physical or behavioral changes that are transmitted to subsequent generations, thus guaranteeing the continuity of the species.
Adaptation plays an essential role in the evolution of species, since the natural selection guarantees the offspring to those who adapt better to the environment and its eventual variations, extinguishing instead those who fail to do so. It is a very slow process, which can take many generations, and is irreversible.
Adaptation should not be confused with acclimatization or acclimatization, a term that rather names the short-term compensatory changes with which the species respond to the changes around them, and which are the result of a certain margin of phenotypic plasticity (certain flexibility of the functioning of their bodies).
Thus, by biological adaptation we can refer both to the process of gradual change and adaptation of the species, and to changes in the body or the conduct of the same ones that increase the survival margins, taking more advantage of a characteristic already present.
Types of adaptations
There are three types of biological adaptation to the environment in which one lives:
- Morphological or structural. It occurs when the body of the species itself is varied (anatomical variation), both in the loss or gain of limbs, their specialization, or the development of mimicry and cryptic colorations.
- Physiological or functional. They are those that have to do with alterations in the internal functioning of the organisms, such as the development of new organs, new enzymes or hormones to satisfy a specific need within the body, derived from the change in the environment.
- Ethological or behavioral. As its name implies, it refers to the behavioral changes that species adopt and transmit to their offspring to ensure reproductive success and survival. It may well be more effective courtship mechanisms, modes of feeding that involve less risks, etc.
There is currently scientific debate regarding a fourth method, which would involve molecular adaptation. There is no clear criterion to determine the influence of natural selection on the molecular development of life forms as simple as the virus, for example.
Examples of adaptation of living beings
Some simple examples of each type of biological adaptation are:
- The thorns of the cactus. In environments as hostile as arid ones, vegetation has adapted to protect itself more intensively from eventual herbivores and also from UV radiation and excess heat. The spines are leaves adapted to a new shape, sharp and pointed, which defend the tissues of the animals and, incidentally, provide a surface for the condensation of the Water, which in those places is not very abundant.
- The salt gland of marine iguanas. Since it is about reptiles Returning to the sea over the generations, their bodies were not initially adapted to the amount of salt they absorbed from seawater, which accumulated in their blood and was potentially harmful. So their bodies over the years developed a gland in which to accumulate salt and expel it.
- The courtship of the birds of paradise. These birds of the genus Paradisaeidade over the generations they developed a courtship mechanism, in which they spread their colorful plumage and accompanied it with elaborate dances. This courtship allows females of the same species to recognize males available for mating, thus preventing hybridization with similar bird species. This behavioral adaptation minimizes the number of hybrids and maximizes the survival of the species.