Anadaptationisachangeoradjustmenttoimprovesomething,ortomakeitsuitabletoa

differentsituation.Byresearchingreliablesourceswecannowlearnhowadaptationsoccur,
howtheprocessofnaturalselectiondecideswhichadaptationscontinuetodayandhowplants
haveadaptedtosurviveinthedesert.

Thetwotypesofadaptationsarestructuralandbehavioraladaptations(Article1).
Behavioraladaptationsaretheadaptationsorganismsdotosurvivesuchasabearhibernating
duringthewinter,birdcallsorevenbirdsmigratingforthewinter(Article1).Structural
adaptationshappenmuchdeeper,theyactuallyoccurinthegenesofanorganism.Formsof
theseadaptationsincludethetypeoffurabearhasorthesizeofabird'sbeak.Tofindouthow
structuraladaptationsoccur,youneedtolookinthegenes.Theseadaptationsoccurusually
whenagenemutatesandchangescausingthefunctionoftheorganismtochangeas
well(Article1).

Theprocessofnaturalselectiondecideswhichadaptationscontinuefromgenerationto
generation.Notalltraitsareaffectedbynaturalselection.Onlythetraitsthatgiveacertain
organismanadvantageovertheothersinthefightforresources,areaffectedbythe
process(Article2).Thismeansthatnaturalselectionisknownassurvivalofthefittest.The
organismsinapopulationthathavetheadvantage,livelonger,andhaveabetterchancetothen
reproduce.Thisexplainswhysomepopulationshavechangedovermanygenerations,because,
whenanorganismreproducesoffspringmanyoftheirtraitsgetpassedontoo.Aslongasthat
traitcontinuestogivetheorganismanadvantageoverresources,theothertraitsbegintoget
weededoutofthepopulationleavingonlythestrongestandwelladaptedtosurvivetoreproduce.
Thesemutationsthatcauseadaptationsoccuronlybychancestretchingtheprocessofnatural
selectionovermany,manyyears(Article2).

Thediagramaboveshowstheprocessofnaturalselectionbyusingbeetlesastheprey
andbirdsasthepredator.Letssaythatthesebeetlesliveinadryclimatewherethereisnt
muchvegetation.Thiswouldthenmean,thatthebeetleswouldbelivingandcrawlingondry
darkground.Thediagramaboveshowsthattheprocessofnaturalselectionallowsthebrown
beetlestraitstocontinuefromgenerationtogeneration.Theywilllivelongerbecausetheirtrait
allowsthemtobecamouflagedwiththeirsurroundingenvironment.Sincetheywilllivelonger,
theywillhaveagreaterchancetomateandpassonthesametraituntilthewholepopulationhas
thesametrait.

Examplesofadaptationscanbeshownbyunderstandinghowplantshaveadaptedtothe
desert.Sincethedesertisadryplaceandalllivingthingsneedwater,itonlymakessensethat
theplantswhichsurviveandcontinuetoreproducewouldhavesometypeoftraitthatallows
themtostoreorkeepwater.Therefore,manyplantshaveadaptedovertheyearstosurvivethe
intenseclimateofthedesertandhaveadaptedtraitstohelpthemlivelongenoughtoreproduce
offspringwiththesametraits.Someplantsthatliveinthedesertarecalledsucculents,these
organismsstorewaterintheirstemsorleaves(Article3).Alsosomeplantsinthedeserthaveno
leavesorhaveseasonalleavesthatonlycomeoutafteritrains(Article3).Byhavingthistraitthe
plantreducestheamountofwaterlossfromphotosynthesis.Otherplantsofthedeserthavea
thick,waxycoatingthathelpsthemholdinwater,likeputtingfinisheronwoodfloorstokeep
waterfromseepingthroughandescaping.

Itsamazinghowadaptationsoccurbyarandomchanceinourgenesthatcausessuch
awiderangeofdiversitiesinourworld.Welearnedhowadaptationsoccurandhowplantshave
adaptedtosurviveinthedesert.Wealsodiscoveredhowtheprocessofnaturalselection
decideswhichorganisms,andtheirtraits,continueordiscontinuetobepassedonfromone
generationtothenextovermanyyears.Thiscouldmean,byrandomchance,thathumanscould
developnewtraitsthatgetpassedontofuturegenerationsandthatthefuturecouldlookway
differentthanweevercouldhaveimagined.Howwouldtheworldbedifferentifanimalsthatare
extinctnowhadactuallyadaptedtosurviveinsteadofdying?