Adaptation

Definition

In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the population during that process. Thirdly, it is a phenotypic trait or adaptive trait, with a functional role in each individual organism, that is maintained and has evolved through natural selection.

Related concepts

Abiogenesis Acclimatization Adaptation (disambiguation)Adaptation and Natural Selection Adaptationism Adaptive evolution in the human genome Adaptive memory Adaptive mutation Adaptive radiation Adaptive system Adenosine triphosphate Adoption Adrian Desmond Agent-based model Alfred A. Knopf Alfred Russel Wallace Alga Allele frequencies Allen & Unwin Allochronic speciation Allometry Allopatric speciation Alternatives to Darwinian evolution Altruism (biology)Amino acid Anagenesis Animal Animal coloration Animal communication Anisogamy Annual Review of Anthropology Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics Ant colony optimization algorithms Antagonistic pleiotropy hypothesis Anti-predator adaptation Appleton-Century-Crofts Applications of evolution Archaea Aristotle Aristotle's Lagoon Aristotle's biology Armand Marie Leroi Artificial intelligence Artificial life Assortative mating Astrobiology Atom Attractor Austryn Wainhouse Autopoiesis Axel Meyer BMC Evolutionary Biology Bacteria Bacteriophage Baldwin effect Bamboo Batesian mimicry Beaver Bee Beetle Best of all possible worlds Bifurcation theory Biocoenosis Biodiversity Biogenesis Biogeochemical cycle Biogeography Biological fitness Biological interaction Biological life cycle Biological organisation Biological process Biological system Biology Biomass Biome Biosocial criminology Biosphere Biota (ecology)Bipedalism Bird flight Blending inheritance Body plan Body reactivity Bounded rationality Branchial arch Breathing Bumblebee Butterfly Cambridge University Press Camouflage Canalisation (genetics)Candide Canidae Carbohydrate Cardiac glycoside Cat gap Catagenesis (biology)Catastrophism Caucasian salamander Cell (biology)Cell cycle Cell nucleus Cell signaling Cell theory Cellular automaton Cellular respiration Centrality Chaos theory Chapman & Hall Character displacement Charles Darwin Charles Leonard Huskins Cheating (biology)Chemical bond Chemical element Chromosome Chronospecies Cichlid Circulatory system Cladistics Cladogenesis Climate Climate change Cline (biology)Co-adaptation Co-evolve Coevolution Coextinction Colin Patterson (biologist)Colin Pittendrigh Collective action Collective behavior Collective consciousness Collective intelligence Coloration evidence for natural selection Columbia University Press Common descent Common name Community (ecology)Comparative anatomy Complex adaptive system Complex system Conservation biology Contingency (evolutionary biology)Convergent evolution Conversation theory Cooperation (evolution)Cornell University Press Cospeciation Coupled map lattice Cultural evolution Cultural group selection Current research in evolutionary biology Cybernetics DNA Darwin's finches Darwinism David Hull (philosopher)David Hume David K. Jordan Death Deep time Deer Developmental biology Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion Dinosaur Dissipative system Divergent evolution Domestication of the dog Dominance (genetics)Donald F. Jones Douglas J. Futuyma Dual inheritance theory Dynamic network analysis Dysgenics E. B. Ford Earliest known life forms Earthworm Ecological Genetics (book)Ecological genetics Ecological niche Ecological speciation Ecological trap Ecology Ecosystem Ecosystem ecology Elisabeth Vrba Elliott Sober Embryology Emergence Empathy Empedocles Empirical evidence Encyclopedia of Earth Endocrine system Endomembrane system Endosymbiosis Energy Entropy Enzyme Epidermis (botany)Epigenetics Ernest Nagel Ernst Mayr Escherichia coli Ethology Eucalyptus Eugenics Eukaryote Evidence for speciation by reinforcement Evidence of common descent Evidence of evolution Evolution Evolution (journal)Evolution as fact and theory Evolution of Macropodidae Evolution of ageing Evolution of bacteria Evolution of biological complexity Evolution of birds Evolution of brachiopods Evolution of butterflies Evolution of cells Evolution of cephalopods Evolution of cetaceans Evolution of color vision Evolution of color vision in primates Evolution of emotion Evolution of eusociality Evolution of fish Evolution of flagella Evolution of fungi Evolution of insects Evolution of lemurs Evolution of mammalian auditory ossicles Evolution of mammals Evolution of molluscs Evolution of morality Evolution of nervous systems Evolution of primates Evolution of reptiles Evolution of sexual reproduction Evolution of sirenians Evolution of snake venom Evolution of spiders Evolution of tetrapods Evolution of the brain Evolution of the eye Evolution of the horse Evolution of the wolf Evolutionarily stable strategy Evolutionary aesthetics Evolutionary anthropology Evolutionary arms race Evolutionary biology Evolutionary computation Evolutionary developmental biology Evolutionary ecology Evolutionary economics Evolutionary epistemology Evolutionary ethics Evolutionary game theory Evolutionary history of plants Evolutionary ideas of the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment Evolutionary invasion analysis Evolutionary linguistics Evolutionary medicine Evolutionary mismatch Evolutionary neuroscience Evolutionary physiology Evolutionary pressure Evolutionary psychology Evolutionary rescue Evolutionary robotics Evolutionary taxonomy Evolutionary tradeoff Evolvability Exaptation Experimental evolution Extended evolutionary synthesis Extinction Extinction event Feather Feathered dinosaur Fecundity Feedback Fermentation Fetus Final cause Fire salamander Fisher's principle Fitness (biology)Fitness landscape Flower Flowering plant Food chain Foraging Fossil Founder effect Fractal François Jacob Free Press (publisher)Fritz Müller Function (biology)Fungus G. Evelyn Hutchinson G. Ledyard Stebbins Game theory Gene-centered view of evolution Gene cassette Gene expression Gene flow Generalist and specialist species Genetic algorithm Genetic assimilation Genetic diversity Genetic drift Genetic programming Genetic variation Genetica Genetics Genetics (journal)Genetics Society of America Genome Genotype Genus Geoffrey Douglas Hale Carpenter Geoffrey Miller (psychologist)Geomorphology George C. Williams (biologist)George Gaylord Simpson Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon Giant panda Glossary of evolutionary biology Glossary of speciation Goal orientation Gold-striped salamander Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Graeme Ruxton Graph theory Ground tissue Group selection Guilford Press Guttorm Fløistad Günter P. Wagner H. Allen Orr Habitat Hair Haldane's rule Handicap principle Harvard University Press Helena Cronin Henry Walter Bates Herbivore Herd mentality Heritability History of biology History of evolutionary thought History of life History of molecular evolution History of paleontology History of speciation Hologenome theory of evolution Homeostasis Homology (biology)Horizontal gene transfer Hoverfly Human digestive system Human evolution Hybrid (biology)Hybrid speciation Hyena Hymenoptera Hyoid bone Immune system Inbreeding avoidance Inclusive fitness Index of biology articles Index of evolutionary biology articles Indian peafowl Information theory Inheritance of acquired characteristics Instinct Internal environment Intestinal parasite Intragenomic conflict Introduction to evolution Introduction to genetics Introduction to speciation Invasion genetics Invasive species Inversion (evolutionary biology)Ions Irish elk Island biogeography J. B. S. Haldane Jacques Monod James Hopson James Mallet Jaw Jean-Baptiste Lamarck John Alexander Moore John Endler John Gould John Maynard Smith John Murray (publishing house)John Wiley & Sons Journal of Evolutionary Biology Journal of Zoology Julian Huxley Kim Sterelny Kin recognition Kin selection Klepton Koala Laboratory experiments of speciation Lamarckism Larva Last glacial period Last universal common ancestor Leaf Learning Leghorn chicken Leigh Van Valen Level of support for evolution Life Lipid List of biology journals Liver fluke Luria–Delbrück experiment Lynn Margulis MIT Press Machine learning Macroevolution Maladaptation Malthusian growth model Mammal Martinus Nijhoff Publishers Mate choice Mating Mating type Matter Max Delbrück McGraw-Hill Education Mechanical philosophy Meiosis Melanin Melanocortin 1 receptor Mendelian inheritance Metabolism Methuen Publishing Microbiome Microevolution Microorganism Mimicry Missing heritability problem Mitochondrion Mitosis Models of DNA evolution Modern synthesis (20th century)Modularity (biology)Molecular evolution Molecule Monarch butterfly Monogamy in animals Monomer Mosaic evolution Mote Marine Laboratory Multicellular organism Multistability Muscular system Mutation Mutationism Mutualism (biology)Müllerian mimicry Na+/K+-ATPase National Council for Science and the Environment Natural selection Natural theology Nature Reviews Genetics Nature versus nurture Neanderthal Neo-Darwinism Nervous system Network motif Network science Neural network (machine learning)Neuropsychology Neutral theory of molecular evolution Niles Eldredge Nonadaptive radiation Nonecological speciation Nonlinear system Nucleic acid Nucleic acid sequence Objections to evolution On the Origin of Species Operationalization Ordinary differential equation Organ (biology)Organelle Organic compound Organism Origin and function of meiosis Origin of avian flight Origin of birds Orthogenesis Outline of biology Outline of evolution Oxford University Press PH Paleobiology (journal)Paleontology Paleopolyploidy Panspermia Parallel evolution Parallel speciation Parapatric speciation Parasite Parasitism Parental investment Parent–offspring conflict Partial differential equation Particle swarm optimization Pattern formation Peafowl Peer review Pelvis Percolation Peripatric speciation Peter J. Bowler Peter Medawar Phase space Phase transition Phenotype Phenotypic plasticity Phenotypic trait Philosophy of biology Phloem Photosynthesis Phototropism Phyletic gradualism Phylogenetic tree Phylogenetics Physiology Plant Plant stem Plasmid Plastid Plato Pleiotropy Ploidy Point mutation Pollinating insect Pollination Pollinator-mediated selection Polymer Polymorphism (biology)Polyploid Polyploidy Population (biology)Population dynamics Population ecology Population genetics Post-transcriptional modification Predation Predator Prentice Hall Princeton University Press Prisoner's dilemma Proceedings of the Royal Society Programmed cell death Prokaryote Protein Protist Protocell Punctuated equilibrium Purine metabolism Quantitative genetics Quantum biology RNA RNA world Rational choice model Reaction–diffusion system Reaktion Books Recent human evolution Reciprocal altruism Recombinational speciation Red Queen hypothesis Red blood cell Reductionism Regulation of gene expression Reinforcement (speciation)Reith Lectures Rejection of evolution by religious groups Relict (biology)Reproduction Reproductive isolation Reproductive system Resource (biology)Respiratory system Richard Lewontin Ring species Robert Dunn (biologist)Robustness (computer science)Ronald Fisher Root Rut (mammalian reproduction)Saltation (biology)Salvador Luria Scalability Scale-free network Science Science (journal)Science Advances Scientific law Scientific method Scientific theory Second-order cybernetics Secondary contact Selection coefficient Selective breeding Self-organization Self-organized criticality Self-reference Self-replication Sensemaking Sequoia sempervirens Sewall Wright Sex-determination system Sexual dimorphism Sexual reproduction Sexual selection Sexual selection in flowering plants Sexual selection in fungi Shoot (botany)Signalling theory Simon & Schuster Sinauer Associates Sinosauropteryx Small-world network Snail slime Social dynamics Social effects of evolutionary theory Social network analysis Social selection Sociobiology Spandrel (biology)Spartina Spatial ecology Speciation Speciation in birds Speciation in fish Speciation in insects Speciation in plants Speciation in the fossil record Species Species complex Springbok Springer Science+Business Media Stephen Jay Gould Stimulus (physiology)Stotting Stream Structuralism (biology)Structure Swarm behaviour Symbiogenesis Sympatric speciation Synapsid Synchronization System dynamics Systematics Systems biology Systems science Systems theory Systems thinking Taxon Taxonomic rank Taxonomy (biology)Teleology Teleology in biology Teleonomy Tempo and Mode in Evolution The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection The Growth of Biological Thought The Journal of Experimental Biology The Journal of Philosophy The eclipse of Darwinism Theistic evolution Theodosius Dobzhansky Theory of computation Thermoregulation Thiamine Thomas N. 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