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Definition: adaptation from Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

In biology, the process by which an animal or plant becomes fitted to its environment. It is the result of natural selection acting on inherited variation. Even simple organisms must be adapted in many ways, including structure, physiology, and genetics; movement or dispersal; means of defense and attack; and reproduction and development. To be useful, adaptations must often occur simultaneously in different parts of the body.

Event: adaptation

Keywords: adaptation


adaptation

From Philip's Encyclopedia
In biology, a trait of an organism that increases its chances of success in its environment. Animals and plants adapt to changes in their environment through variations in structure, reproduction or organisation within communities. These variations are the result of the individual organism's DNA , so are more prevalent in the next generation if they increase its chances of survival and reproductive success. This is the process which drives evolution . Adaptation takes place over generations and should not be confused with acclimatisation to new conditions within a single organism's lifetime. …
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Full text Article Adaptation

From The Concise Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science
Like many other words in psychology, adaptation has multiple meanings. At the basis of all the meanings, however, is the concept carried by its Latin root, adaptare: to fit. Among ethologists, who think that characteristic species-typical behaviors are distillations of evolutionary processes, each…
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Full text Article Adaptation

From World of Sociology, Gale
Adaptation is the process through which social systems respond to their environment. In physical terms, all cultures develop strategies to survive within their particular habitats. Traditional Inuit societies, for example, adapted to an environment that is extremely cold and had almost no…
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Full text Article adaptation

From Philip's Encyclopedia
The various honeycreepers of Hawaii evolved from...
In biology, a trait of an organism that increases its chances of success in its environment. Animals and plants adapt to changes in their environment through variations in structure, reproduction or organisation within communities. These variations are the result of the individual organism's DNA , …
| 182 words , 1 image
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Full text Article Adaptation

From Encyclopedia of Adolescence
Adaptation Coping Assimilation Socialization Evolutionary theory Adaption typically refers to changing for better being able to live in a particular environment. The general belief is that adaptation involves successful transitions, one that enhances the probability of doing well in the new…
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Full text Article adaptation

From The Macquarie Dictionary
the act of adapting. Plural: adaptations the state of being adapted; adjustment. Plural: adaptations something produced by adapting. Plural: adaptations a literary work rewritten for presentation in a different medium an adaptation of a novel for the stage., adaptations a. Biology alteration in the…
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Full text Article ADAPTATION

From The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Language Sciences
An adaptation is a characteristic in an organism that evolved because it helped the organism or its relatives to survive and reproduce. Examples include the vertebrate eye, claws, mammary glands, the immune system, and the brain structures that underlie the human capacity for language. More…
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Full text Article Adaptation

From Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology
Adaptation refers to the behavior that enables an organism to function effectively in its environment. Adaptation is the process of change occurring in organisms or species in order to adjust to a particular environment to assure group survival. Adaptation is crucial to the process of natural…
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Full text Article adaptation

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
In biology, any feature in the structure or function of an organism that allows it to survive and reproduce more effectively in its environment. Much adaptation is inherited (see inheritance ) and is the result of many thousands of years of evolution . It is thought to occur as a result of random…
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Evolution of shared antipredatory warning...
Adaptation and Darwinism Adaptation as a hypothesis of evolutionary history Molecular population genetics of adaptation Adaptation and selfish genetic elements Darwin's theory of natural selection explains how genetically variable populations gradually accumulate traits that enhance an organism's…
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Full text Article ADAPTATION

From Dictionary of Race, Ethnicity & Culture
Deriving from the Latin term adaptus - meaning ‘suitable’ or ‘adapted’ - composed of ad plus aptu (apt), the term ‘adaptation’ - together with the term ‘adjustment’ deriving from the old French adjuster composed of ad (to) and juste (right) - describes two features of peoples and groups: plasticity…
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