ADAPTATION
AND MALADAPTATION
by
Antonio C. Antonio
May
16, 2014
This
is an awesome image of mountain-climbing goats in Colorado, USA. These goats scale steep mountain slopes for
fresh food… grass and vegetation on top of the mountain. Given the peculiar topography of their
immediate environment, these goats are adapting to the landscape.
This
is called “adaptation” which actually has several meanings depending on the
usage and context:
- As a noun, it means: (1) the act of adapting; (2) the state of being adapted or an adjustment; (3) something produced by adapting (such as an adaptation of a stage play for television);
- In Biology, it means: (1) any alteration in the structure or function of an organism or any of its parts that results from natural selection and by which the organism becomes better fitted to survive and multiply in its environment; (2) a form or structure modified to fit a changed environment; and, (3) the ability of a species to survive in a particular ecological niche, especially because of alterations of form or behaviour brought about through natural selection process; and,
- In Physiology, it means the decrease in response of sensory receptor organs, as those of vision, touch, temperature, olfaction and audition which results to changes when constantly applied to environmental conditions.
Opposed
to adaptation is maladaptation. This is
also in a sense a form of adaptation although the adjustment is on the negative
or non-ideal way. A good example of this
is when a good person, wrongly accused and sentenced to jail, is included in a
cell with hardened criminals. Most
likely, this person will integrate and start acting like a tough guy too in his
bid to survive and not be dominated or enslaved by the other inmates. Edgar Rice Burroughs’ character “Tarzan” was
accidentally left in the jungle in his infantile stage and was adopted and
reared by apes. Eventually, Tarzan grew
up acting and communicating like an ape.
The
need to adapt is directly related to the need to survive. A maladaptation is a trait more harmful than
helpful. In both humans and animals, it
applies to behavior learned as a survival mechanism. However, these adaptive means, resulting to maladaptation,
are not within accepted norms of behavior within specific societies.
No comments:
Post a Comment