adaptation articles
What process is the fundamental driving force behind the incredible diversity of life powered by evolution?
What is the raw material upon which natural selection acts?
For natural selection to operate, what essential condition relates to passing traits from parent to offspring?
What must be present, stemming from a struggle for existence where offspring production exceeds environmental support?
On which physical aspect of an organism does natural selection exert its direct sorting pressure?
Although selection acts on individuals, where is the resulting evolutionary change observed?
Which type of selection occurs when the intermediate phenotype is the most fit, selecting against traits at both extremes?
If the environment consistently shifts in one direction, causing the population's average trait value to move toward a new extreme, what selection mode is acting?
Which selection mode favors individuals at both phenotypic extremes while actively selecting against intermediate forms?
What is the immediate outcome where a trait becomes common in a population because it improves fitness under current living conditions?
What process describes the decrease in a sensory receptor's responsiveness when exposed to a constant, unchanging stimulus over time?
What is the primary biological purpose of sensory adaptation?
What term describes the conversion of external energy, such as light or pressure, into an electrical signal (action potential) that the nervous system can interpret?
Which receptors are specialized to detect the onset and offset of a stimulus and exhibit a rapid decline in firing rate, making them detectors of movement?
Which examples of skin receptors are characterized as tonic receptors, crucial for providing ongoing information about sustained pressure?
How is the intensity of a stimulus generally encoded by the afferent neuron?
What phenomenon occurs in olfaction where the perceived intensity of a strong scent vanishes after initial exposure?
What neural mechanism, involving inhibitory interneurons activated by constant strong input, actively suppresses a primary afferent fiber's signal and contributes to adaptation?
What specialized structure in receptors like the Pacinian corpuscle acts as a mechanical filter to ensure they primarily respond to rapid pressure changes?
In the context of internal monitoring, what term describes the adjustment of tonic receptor firing rates, such as baroreceptors, over hours or days to maintain physiological stability during chronic conditions?
What is the definition of adaptive radiation?
What is the most frequently cited primary trigger for an evolutionary radiation event?
What concept is a critical component of ecological opportunity?
Which factor is cited as combining on an island to trigger radiation in colonizing species?
What does a key innovation fundamentally unlock for a lineage?
What macroevolutionary event can cause a catastrophic reset leading to dramatic adaptive radiations?
What is the driving force behind the splitting of lineages during an adaptive radiation?
In geographically isolated settings like archipelagos, which speciation mechanism is common?
According to the provided table, which trigger mechanism generally results in the fastest observable diversification rates?
When does the rate of new species formation slow down to the background rate during a radiation?