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Many aspects of an animal or plant can be correctly called adaptations, though there are always some features whose function remains in doubt. By using the term adaptation for the evolutionary process , and adaptive trait for the bodily part or function (the product), one may distinguish the two different senses of the word.
Adaptationism is an approach to studying the evolution of form and function. It attempts to frame the existence and persistence of traits, assuming that each of them arose independently and improved the reproductive success of the organism's ancestors.
Researchers examined genetic data from 388 wild chimpanzees in 18 countries, documenting adaptations driven by the nature of their habitat and revealing previously unknown genetic diversity within ...
Natural selection is tantamount to common descent in that long-term occurrence and selection pressures can lead to the diversity of life on earth as found today. All adaptations—documented and undocumented changes concerned—are caused by natural selection (and a few other minor processes).
The second is the notion of branching evolution, implying the common descent of all species of living things on earth from a single unique origin." [11] Additionally, "Darwin further noted that evolution must be gradual, with no major breaks or discontinuities. Finally, he reasoned that the mechanism of evolution was natural selection." [11]
Local adaptation is a mechanism in evolutionary biology whereby a population of organisms evolves to be more well-suited to its local environment than other members of the same species that live elsewhere. Local adaptation requires that different populations of the same species experience different natural selection. For example, if a species ...
In evolutionary biology, adaptive radiation is a process in which organisms diversify rapidly from an ancestral species into a multitude of new forms, particularly when a change in the environment makes new resources available, alters biotic interactions or opens new environmental niches.
The science of silent snowflakes: The most common type of snowflake, called a dendrite, has six "arms" extending out from the center of the flake. While falling toward the ground, these dendrites ...