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Biology vocabulary · Evolution and Classification

Adaptation

Meaning in biology, with examples

/ˌædæpˈteɪʃən/nounCore term

In biology, adaptation means: A feature that helps an organism survive and reproduce in its environment, such as a camel's wide feet; also the evolutionary process that produces such features.

In Turkish: adaptasyon, uyum

How it is used

Adaptations can be structural (body shape), physiological (body chemistry) or behavioral (migration). The verb is adapt: a species adapts to its environment over many generations. In everyday speech, adapt also means an individual adjusting during its lifetime.

Example sentences

  1. Thick fur and a layer of fat are adaptations to life in the Arctic.

  2. Cacti show many adaptations to dry habitats, including spines instead of leaves.

Common collocations

  • adaptation to
  • structural adaptation
  • behavioral adaptation
  • adapt to the environment
  • natural selectionThe process by which individuals with traits better suited to their environment survive and reproduce more, so those traits become more common over generations.
  • evolutionThe change in the inherited traits of populations over many generations. It explains how all living species descend from earlier forms of life.
  • traitA characteristic of an organism, such as eye color, flower shape or blood type. Some traits are inherited through genes, while others are shaped by the environment.
  • habitatThe natural place where a particular organism or species lives and finds the food, shelter and conditions it needs.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Evolution and Classification

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