Question

What are the types of adaptation? What are phenotypic and genotypic adaptations?

Answer 1

Adaptation:

1. In biology, adaptation is the process by which a species adapts to its surroundings.
2. It is the outcome of natural selection acting on heritable variation over numerous generations.
3. Types of adaptation: Morphological, physiological, and behavioral adaptation.

i) Morphological adaptation:

1. In this case, structural changes occur in the living organisms to adapt to their surrounding environment.
2. Plants present in desert areas are the best examples of morphological adaptation.

ii) Physiological adaptation:

1. It includes the changes that occur inside the body of organisms such as intracellular, biochemical, and metabolic changes to adapt itself to the change in its surrounding environment.
2. Camouflage is one example.

iii) Behavioral adaptation:

1. It is a change in the behavior of the organism to get adapted to the surrounding environment.
2. The migration of birds is an example of behavioral adaptation.

Phenotypic adaptation:

1. Phenotypic adaptation is the change in the appearance of organisms due to genetic mutation or in response to the surrounding environment.
2. Example: desert plants possess sunken stomata on the leaf to prevent water loss.

Genotypic adaptation:

1. Genotypic adaptation is the process through which an organism improves its structure or traits so that it can operate better in its environment.
2. Example: industrialization caused the evolution of light-colored moths in a dark-colored population.