BIO120H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Ecophysiology, Adaptation, Thermoregulation
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BIO120H1 Full Course Notes
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Document Summary
Ecology science by which we study how organisms interact in and with the natural world. Physical traits can either: aid in survival, be non-adaptive or lacking in adaptive significance/neutral. E. g. attached earlobes vs. unattached lobes: maladaptive- reduce fitness. Prominent in changing environment where new ecological challenges change the fitness consequences of species characteristics. E. g. attraction to sweet and fatty foods adaptive trait in past but harmful now. Tradeoffs: can hamper adaptive fine-tuning, structures represent a compromise between functions, e. g. large-eared jackrabbit large ears (better hearing, bad thermoregulation) vs. smaller ears (lower hearing, better thermoregulation, spread through the construction and function of organisms. E. g. pika"s with smaller ears vs. large-eared rabbits. Natural selection does not act directly upon traits or genes insolation: success or failure is reflected upon individual organisms, adaptive evolution of particular trait will depend on overall effect on fitness, through all of its functions.
