What is adaptation in biological terms?

Prepare for your Ontario Grade 11 University Biology Exam. Enhance your understanding with flashcards and multiple choice questions designed with explanations. Ace your exam!

Adaptation in biological terms refers to a characteristic that provides an advantage to an organism's survival and reproductive success in its environment. This characteristic can be a structural change, such as the shape of a bird's beak that helps it access food more efficiently, a behavioral change, like migration patterns to find more favorable climates, or a physiological process, such as the ability to withstand extreme temperatures. The essence of adaptation is that these traits are often the result of evolutionary processes, enabling organisms to better fit into their ecological niches, find food, avoid predators, and improve their chances of reproducing successfully. This concept emphasizes the importance of both the individual organism's traits and the environmental context in which these traits provide benefits.

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