Question

Which of the following is not an example of adaptation? A) A plant population that is very drought-resistant due to the action of natural selection B) The process by which a plant population becomes drought-resistant C) The increased ability of an individual plant (above baseline) to withstand further drought after it has received a heat shock, which causes the expression of specific proteins that enable more efficient use of water D) A mammal species that has evolved an increased ability to store water through the operation of natural selection E) A mammal species that has evolved measures to use water more efficiently through the operation of natural selection

Answer 1

Answer:

C) The increased ability of an individual plant (above baseline) to withstand further drought after it has received a heat shock, which causes the expression of specific proteins that enable more efficient use of water

Explanation:

In biology, adaptations refer to the characteristics of organisms that allow them to survive and reproduce better in their environment than if they did not possess them. Many of these adaptations are very easy to recognize, such as bird beaks that are highly specific to the food they eat, for example.  It is now accepted by science that only natural selection can consistently produce adaptations, although it is important to note that it is not the only evolutionary mechanism. Natural selection, whose idea is mainly attributed to Charles Darwin, acts directly on the phenotypic characteristics of individuals in a population, favoring those who are most likely to survive and reproduce in a given environment over those who are less adapted.

Based on this, we can conclude that adaptation is a biological process that occurs without human manipulation. Thus, we can conclude that among the options given in the above question, the letter C does not represent an example of adaptation. This is because the letter C, shows a plant that showed characteristics favorable to its survival in an inhospitable environment, after human intervention, which, through a thermal shock, caused the expression of specific proteins for that characteristic.