Topic 5 - Adaptation

be aware this is not completed yet, only for midterm 1 for now... PLS COME BACK AND FINISH IT FOR MITDERM 2

adaptation

• heritable phenotype allowing individuals to perform a function that enhances their fitness

• the evolutionary process that produces adaptations

acclimation

a process by which an inddividual organism adjusts to a change in its environment to minize effect of stressors and maintain performance

exptations and their characteristics

• adaptations that arose after a change in function, structures that were co-opted for current fitness

• does NOT imply evolution is goal oriented

adaptationist fairy tale

an untested and unsupported explanation for the adaptive value of a phenotype from an assumption that most traits are adaptations via natural selection

why are adaptationist fairtales problematic? how can they be avoided

they create a simplified, speculative, and often unfalsifiable narrative to explain a trait or phenomenon

criteria necessary to demonstrate a trait is adaptive

• determine its function

• show that its function icnreases fitness in current environment. (with evidence)

local adaptation

when populations diverge due to natural selection adapting them to difference in their local environments.

reciprocal transplants

fitness of individuals is quantified in each of the two environments; organisms from different environments are swapped to assess local adaptation, revealing whether populations are better suited to their native habitats or if environmental factors are more influential than genetic differences

the comparative method

correlates trait difference among populations with variation in a selective agent.