Question

What is the difference between individual adaptation and species adaptation?

Answer 1

Answer:

Individual adaptation means the adaptations acquired by individuals during their lifetime or behaviors sharpened by experience. Species adaptation means the adaptation of species as a whole to their environments by the process of natural selection.

Explanation:

Adaptation means any change in an organism that increases the efficiency of that organism and gives a better chance to survive and reproduce. The changes may be developmental, anatomical, behavioral or physiological.

Individual adaptation means the adaptations acquired by individual organisms during their lifetime (muscles strengthened by exercise) or behaviors sharpened by experience. It is a short-term change in response to conditions with a short-term benefit. For example, on a hot day, the production of sweat increases to cool our bodies. Adaptations achieved by individuals cannot be passed on to their offspring, except in the form of learned behavior.

Species adaptation means the adaptation of species as a whole to their environments, which occur as a result of natural selection (survival of the fittest). Highly adapted species are better suited to their particular environment than a less-adapted species but less likely to survive changes to that environment while less-adapted species are well-suited to survive changes in that environment. For example, a highly adapted flowering plant species depend on a specific insect that exists only in its present environment for pollination and if that specific insect species become extinct, the plants will also cease to exist.