Co-adaptation
In biology, co-adaptation, or coadaptation refers to the mutual adaptation of:
- Species: see mutualism, symbiosis. This is generally termed coevolution.
- Traits, often at different levels of biological organization. For example, ecophysiology and evolutionary physiology have focused on the coadaptation of behavior with physiology (e.g., [1][2][3]).
- Organs: see the evolution of the eye.
- Genes or gene complexes: see Linkage disequilibrium, epistasis
These are types of evolutionary adaptation because they involve cross-generational changes in the genetic compositions of populations in response to natural selection.
Examples of Coevolution
- The fig and the fig wasp.
- Myrmica sabuleti and the Large Blue butterfly
See also
References
- ↑ Huey, R. B., and A. F. Bennett. 1987. Phylogenetic studies of coadaptation: preferred temperatures versus optimal performance temperatures of lizards. Evolution 41:1098–1115.
- ↑ Garland, T., Jr., T. 1999. Laboratory endurance capacity predicts variation in field locomotor behaviour among lizard species. Animal Behaviour 57:77–83.
- ↑ Angilletta Jr, M. J., A. F. Bennett, H. Guderley, C. A. Navas, F. Seebacher, and R. S. Wilson. 2006. Coadaptation: a unifying principle in evolutionary thermal biology. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology 79:282–294.
External links
- Coadaptation entry in a dictionary on evolution.
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