adaptation

Organisms the forever changing battle

October 10th 2022

Introduction

People change the environment which causes change in organisms.

What is adaptation according to Britannica "adaptation, in biology, the process by which a species becomes fitted to its environment" ( Gittleman, 2021).All organisms have traits that determine appearance and other key aspects. These traits can be modified depending on where it lives and obstacles that stand in its way. For  example Charles Darwin a famous biologist explored the galapagos islands and found a variety of finches, most of them had different beaks depending on which island they lived on and what food was present. This is also an example of natural selection where the finch has to have an ascertained beak to be able to find food.

Some of these adaptations are for the better and improve the animals life.

For example the orangutan has suffered from deforestation, it has also used the path’s made by construction workers to travel faster.

“the great apes appeared to show a preference for walking along roads built by the timber industry” (Bittel 2015). According to this article on national geographic an ecologist named Brent Loken set up a series of cameras and caught the great Apes traveling on the man made roads. There was another instance in Florida where manatees are traveling to inlets with power plants, because of the warmer water during the winter months. Because manatees don't have much insulation they have to find warmer water even after the slightest temperature change.

Some adaptations can be bad while most help
improve the animal’s life, some can be a nunsense. Such as the human appendix which serves no purpose but if ruptured can prove life threatening. Another example is the human tailbone, at one point humans had tails now they don't but the bone is still part of there spinal structure. These two parts of the human body are vestigial structures which are part of their bodies that serve no purpose. Both of these vestigial structures are examples of adaptations where the organism has outgrown its use and adapted to different things.

Climate change is causing animals to rapidly adapt and is causing some problems in the ecosystems.

Because of modernization by the human race it is heating up the earth and causing a greenhouse effect. Where all of the by-products from factories and vehicles are crashing against the ozone and containing all of the heat. So Ice is melting and water levels are rising. Some animals are changing the size of certain structures in their bodies because of the growing temperature. “organisms adapted to warmer environments have larger limbs and other body parts in order to maximize their heat loss by increasing surface area, such as the larger ears on African elephants when compared to Asian elephants” (Ashworth 2021). There have been multiple cases of animals enlarging aspects of themselves for heat distribution. For short these adaptations can be beneficial but at a certain point they won’t be able to continue this cycle. This can lead to massive death and even extinction in some populations and ecosystems.

References

Gittleman, John l.(2021) “Adaptation.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/science/adaptation-biology-and-physiology. 

Ashworth, James.(2021) “Animals 'Shapeshifting' to Adapt to Rising Temperatures.” Natural History Museum, www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2021/september/animals-shapeshifting-to-adapt-to-rising-temperatures.html. 

Bittel, Jason.(2015) “4 Clever (and Kind of Sad) Ways Animals Adapt to Humans.” Animals, National Geographic1, www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/150211-climate-change-science-animals-adaptation-orangutans-manatees.