Adaptive Features
Adaptive Features
Definition
- Adaptive features or adaptations can either be physical traits or behaviours.
- They help an organism survive and reproduce in their environment.
- Darwin’s theory of natural selection provides part of the explanation for these features.
Types of Adaptive Features
- Structural adaptations: Include any physical features designed to help with survival, for example, the sharp teeth of a shark for catching prey.
- Behavioural adaptations: Refers to what organisms do to survive, such as migration, hibernation, or hunting strategies.
- Physiological adaptations: These adaptations involve chemical processes in the body, including the production of venom to kill prey or the release of pheromones to attract a mate.
Examples of Adaptive Features
- A chameleon’s ability to change colour for camouflage is an example of both a structural and behavioural adaptation.
- The long neck of a giraffe, which allows it to reach leaves not accessible to other animals, is a structural adaptation.
- A snake’s production of venom is a physiological adaptation used to immobilize its prey.
Adaptive Features and Evolution
- Evolution is the process by which different kinds of living organisms develop and diversify from earlier forms during the history of the earth.
- Over many generations, adaptive features that give a species a survival advantage will become more common within the population through the process of natural selection.
- Those creatures without the adaptive feature may not survive to reproduce, and so the feature becomes more general in the population.
- This is why adaptive features are viewed as evidence supporting the theory of evolution.