The grand inventions of the human mind are notcease to amaze, fantasy there is no limit. But the fact that nature has created many centuries surpasses the most creative ideas and designs. Nature has created more than one and a half million species of living individuals, each of which is individual and unique in its forms, physiology, adaptability to life. Examples of the adaptation of organisms to the ever-changing living conditions on the planet are examples of the creator’s wisdom and a constant source of tasks for biologists to solve.
What is adaptation?
Adaptation means fitness oraddictive. It is a process of gradual degeneration of the physiological, morphological or psychological functions of a creature in a changing environment. Both individuals and whole populations undergo changes.
A vivid example of adapting the immediate andindirect - survival of flora and fauna in the zone of increased radiation around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The immediate adaptability is characteristic of those individuals who managed to survive, get used to and begin to multiply, some did not stand the test and died (indirect adaptation).
Since the conditions of existence on Earth are constantly changing, the processes of evolution and adaptation in living nature are also a continuous process.
Fresh example of adaptation - changing environmentHabitat colony of green Mexican parrots arating. Recently, they have changed their habitat and settled in the very mouth of Masaya volcano, in an environment constantly saturated with sulfur gas of high concentration. Scientists have not yet given an explanation for this phenomenon.
Types of adaptation
Change the whole form of the organismis a functional adaptation. An example of adaptation, when changing conditions leads to mutual adaptation of living organisms to each other, is a correlative adaptation or co-adaptation.
The device may be passive whenthe functions or structure of the subject occur without his participation, or active when he consciously changes his habits to suit the environment (examples of people's adaptation to natural conditions or society). There are cases when the subject adapts the environment to fit his needs - this is an objective adaptation.
Biologists share types of adaptation in three ways:
- Morphological.
- Physiological.
- Behavioral or psychological.
Examples of adaptation of animals or plants in their pure form are rare, most cases of habituation to new conditions occur in mixed species.
Morphological adaptations: examples
Morphological changes are changes in the shape of a body, individual organs or the whole structure of a living organism that have occurred in the process of evolution.
The following are morphological adaptations, examples from the animal and plant world, which we regard as a matter of course:
- Rebirth of leaves in the spines of cacti and other plants in arid regions.
- Tortoise shell
- Streamlined body shapes of inhabitants of reservoirs.
Physiological adaptations: examples
The physiological adaptation is a change in a number of chemical processes occurring inside the body.
- Strong smell of flowers to attract insects contributes to dusting.
- The state of anabiosis, in which the simplest organisms are able to enter, allows them to preserve viability over many years. The oldest breeding bacterium is 250 years old.
- The accumulation of subcutaneous fat, which is converted into water, camels.
Behavioral (psychological) adaptation
Examples more associated with psychological factors.human adaptation. Behavioral characteristics are characteristic of flora and fauna. Thus, in the process of evolution, a change in the temperature regime causes some animals to hibernate, birds to fly south to return in spring, trees to fall foliage and slow down the movement of juices. The instinct of choosing the most suitable partner for the continuation of the race drives the behavior of animals during the mating season. Some northern frogs and turtles completely freeze for the winter and thaw, come to life with the onset of heat.
Factors causing the need for change
Any adaptation process is a response to environmental factors that lead to environmental change. Such factors are divided into biotic, abiotic and anthropogenic.
Biotic factors are the influence of living organisms on each other, when, for example, one species disappears, which serves as food for another.
Abiotic factors are changes in the environment.inanimate nature, when the climate changes, soil composition, water availability, solar activity cycles. Physiological adaptations, examples of the influence of abiotic factors - equatorial fish that can breathe in water and on land. They are well adapted to the conditions when the drying up of rivers is a frequent occurrence.
Anthropogenic factors - the influence of human activity, which changes the environment.
Habitat adaptations
- Illumination. In plants, these are separate groups thatdiffer in need for solar lighting. Light-loving heliophites live well in open spaces. In contrast, they are Scyophytes: plants of forest thickets, feel well in shaded places. Among the animals there are also individuals whose physiological adaptation is designed for an active lifestyle at night or underground.
- Air temperature. On average, for all living things, including humans, the optimal temperature environment is the range from 0 to 50 aboutC. However, life exists in almost all climatic regions of the Earth.
Opposite examples of adaptation to abnormal temperatures are described below.
Arctic fish do not freeze due to the production in the blood of a unique antifreeze protein, which does not allow blood to freeze.
The simplest microorganisms are found in hydrothermal springs, the water temperature in which exceeds the degree of boiling.
Hydrophyte plants, that is, those that live in wateror near it, die even with a slight loss of moisture. Xerophytes, on the contrary, are adapted to live in arid regions, and die in high humidity. Among animals, nature also worked on adapting to water and waterless environments.
Human adaptation
The ability of man to adapt trulyare grand. The secrets of human thinking are far from being fully revealed, and the secrets of people's adaptive ability will long be a mysterious topic for scientists. The superiority of Homo sapiens over other living beings is in the ability to consciously change their behavior to the requirements of the environment or, on the contrary, the world around them to suit their needs.
The flexibility of human behavior is manifested daily.If you give a task: “Give examples of human adaptation”, the majority begins to recall exceptional cases of survival in extreme conditions. These are rare cases, and social adaptation in new circumstances is peculiar to man daily. We try on a new environment at the moment of birth, in kindergarten, school, in a team, when moving to another country. It is this state of making new sensations by the body called stress. Stress is a psychological factor, but nevertheless, under its influence, many physiological functions change. In the case when a person accepts a new environment as a positive one for himself, the new state becomes habitual, otherwise stress threatens to become protracted and lead to a number of serious diseases.
Human adaptation mechanisms
There are three types of human adaptation:
- Physiological. The simplest examples are acclimatization andadaptability to changing time zones or daily operation. In the process of evolution, various types of people were formed, depending on the territorial place of residence. The arctic, alpine, continental, desert, equatorial types significantly differ in physiological indices.
- Psychological adaptation. This is a person's ability to find moments.understanding with people of different psychotypes, in a country with a different level of mentality. It is common for a rational person to change his established stereotypes under the influence of new information, special cases, stress.
- Social adaptation. Type of addiction, which is peculiar only to man.
All adaptive types are closely related,as a rule, any change of habitual existence causes a need for social and psychological adaptation in a person. Under their influence, mechanisms of physiological changes come into effect, which also adapt to the new conditions.
Такая мобилизация всех реакция организма названа adaptation syndrome. New body reactions appear in response to dramatic changes in the situation. At the first stage - anxiety - there is a change in physiological functions, changes in the work of metabolism and systems. Next, the protective functions and organs are connected (including the brain), they begin to include their protective functions and hidden features. The third stage of adaptation depends on the individual characteristics: a person either enters a new life and enters the normal course (recovery occurs in medicine during this period), or the body does not take stress, and the consequences take a negative form.
Phenomena of the human body
Man has a huge reserve of naturestrength, which is used in everyday life only in small amounts. It manifests itself in extreme situations and is perceived as a miracle. In fact, the miracle lies in ourselves. An example of adaptation: the ability of people to adapt to normal life after the removal of a significant part of the internal organs.
Natural innate immunity throughoutlife can be strengthened by a number of factors, or, conversely, weaken with the wrong lifestyle. Unfortunately, addiction to bad habits - this is also the difference between man and other living organisms.
