BIOL-2356EL Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Adaptive Radiation, Natural Selection, Frostbite
4 Mar 2020
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Organisms are adapted to the environment that live in or they wouldn"t survive. (evolution by natural selection) Beavers: waterproof fur to keep dry and warm, tail as rudder and for warning. White pine: adapted to rocky harsh climates, and as it gets warmer it moves north. Adaptation : any heritable behavioural, morphological, or physiological trait, evolved by natural selection* that maintains or increases fitness of the organism in prevailing environmental conditions. * a selective force may result in an adaptation to other environmental factors as well. Heavy grazing will cause a plant to have a tolerance of frequent mowing. Adaptations can sometimes be disadvantages = beavers having warm and waterproof fur almost led them to extinction when europeans arrived. Fitness : proportionate contribution of an individual to future generations. In populations there is a genetically determined variation of traits among the individuals. Local adaptations within a species results in ecotypes. It is genotypically adapted to a specific environment.
