Adaptation

We explain what adaptation is and what its function is in living beings. In addition, we tell you in which other areas the term is used.

What is adaptation?

Adaptation is the physical, mental, social or any other process through which an element modifies or transforms itself to better respond or react to a purpose, obstacle, or situation. Everything that has this capacity, be it an organism, an individual or an object, is classified as adaptablewhile that which lacks it is called unadaptable.

The term “adapt” and its derivatives “adaptable” and “adaptation” historically come from the Latin verb I will adaptmade up in turn of the voices ad- (“towards”) and apere (“bind” or “adjust”). So, in principle, something is adapted when it has been adjusted to the situation, the need or the environment, that is, when it fits with it. That is why the adjective is sometimes used misfit to refer to delinquents and criminals, since it is considered that they are people incapable of adjusting to life in society, that is, of living respecting its rules.

The concept of adaptation is very important in different areas of knowledge, such as electricity, the arts and especially biology.

See also: Habitat and ecological niche

biological adaptation

Adaptation, in the field of biology, It is part of the key concepts of evolutionary theorywhose basic approach is that living beings in general struggle to adapt to the environment. Organisms adapt to physical, chemical, climatic changes, among others, as well as to the presence and actions of other living beings, generating what is known as the fight for survival or the survival of the fittest, that is , the one that best adapts to its environment.

This is also the reason why extinctions occur: Those species that fail to adapt to the environment simply disappear and give up their place in the ecological circuit to other, better adapted species.. However, biological adaptation can take many forms and paths. This continuous process of change and adaptation of species eventually gives rise to new species better adapted to the environment: that is what is known as evolution.

This adaptation can be of three types:

• Morphological or structuralwhich has to do with body anatomy and appearance.
• Physiological or functionalwhich has to do with the organs and internal functioning of the body.
• Ethological or behavioralwhich has to do with the behavior or habits of the living being.

Some examples of biological adaptation can be:

• The development of survival mechanismsthrough which they escape from predators and therefore have greater chances of reproducing, such as the natural camouflage with which certain insects resemble leaves, stems or other parts of plants, or the mimicry with which the body of octopuses and chameleons imitate the color of their environment to go unnoticed.
• The transformation of body organs to face new challenges, as happened with the beak of the woodpecker, adapted to extract insects and worms from the hard bark of trees, or even with the first lungs, which allowed some prehistoric species to adapt to air and life on land, where Food was abundant and competition was much less.
• Learning behaviors that maximize opportunities to reproduce, as occurs with the mating dances of different species of birds or the systems of hoarding females (and competition for access to them) that occur within the flock in some species of mammals.

Other uses of the term “adaptation”

Outside the scope of biology, the term “adaptation” is used in the following specific senses:

• In electricity, it is called adapters to devices that allow a device to be connected to the electrical networksuch as AC/DC adapters that convert alternating current from power lines into direct current that can be used by the device.
• In the arts, it is understood adaptation to a version of a work in another genre or another artistic languagerespecting its essence but altering some of its aspects. For example, the film adaptation of a literary novel involves its transformation from a written work to a filmed work.
• In computing, a adapter It is a device capable of converting one type of signal into anotheror to allow the interconnection of two terminals that would not normally be compatible, as occurs with a USB adapter (which allows a peripheral to be connected to a USB port).
• In the educational field, school adaptation is the initial period of socialization that the infant experiences when he begins to attend school and is exposed to new experiences and a new environment.

Continue with: Hibernation

References

• “Biological adaptation” on Wikipedia.
• “Adapt” in the Language Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy.
• “Etymology of Adapt” in the Online Spanish Etymological Dictionary.
• “Adaptation” at the National University of Cuyo (Argentina).
• “Adaptation” in Understanding Evolution at the University of Berkeley (USA).
• “Adaptation” at the University of Granada (Spain).