4.3.11 Adaptation

Question 1

What are the types of adaptation?

Answer 1

The term adaptation can be defined as:
A characteristics that aids an organism’s survival in its environment

Adaptations can be:
anatomical
Physical features of an organism
E.g. the white fur of a polar bear provides camouflage in the snow so it has less chance of being detected by prey
physiological
Biological processes within an organism
E.g. mosquitos produce chemicals that stoa host’s blood from clotting when they bite so that they can feed more easily
behavioural
The way an organism behaves
E.g. reptiles bask in the sun to absorb heat

Question 2

What is convergent evolution?

Answer 2

Organisms from different taxonomic groups may show similar adaptations even though they do not share a recent common ancestor
Shared adaptations between unrelated organisms arise due to convergent evolution
Convergent evolution occurs by natural selection as follows:
two species live in different parts of the world with similar environments
the species deal with the same selection pressures
the same characteristics are advantageous in the two environments, so individuals with these characteristics are more likely to survive and reproduce
over time the advantageous characteristics become widespread in both populations