Exaptation
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(New page: {{SelfOrg}} '''Exaptation''' is a side-leap, side-effect or bypass around a fitness barrier in evolution through a change of function. It is an adaptation where the (biolog...) |
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| - | '''Exaptation''' is a side-leap, side-effect or bypass around a fitness barrier in evolution through a change of function. It is an [[Adaptation|adaptation]] where the (biological) function currently performed by the adaptation was not the function performed while the adaptation evolved under earlier pressures of natural selection. It occurs if a property with one function is converted into a property with another function, and describes a feature that performs a function that was not produced by natural selection for its current use. It can be considered as an [[Adaptation|adaptation]] where the current function of a component or property no longer matches the past function. The function the component has now is not the same function the component had while it has evolved under natural selection in the first place. During an exaptation process, old components selected by [[Evolution|evolution]] for some particular function or purpose are recruited by evolution to participate in new interactions and take over new functions. | + | '''Exaptation''' and preadaptation are related terms referring to shifts in the function of a trait during evolution. Exaptation describes the use of a biological structure or function for a purpose other than that for which it initially evolved. It is a side-leap, side-effect or bypass around a fitness barrier in evolution through a change of function. It is an [[Adaptation|adaptation]] where the (biological) function currently performed by the adaptation was not the function performed while the adaptation evolved under earlier pressures of natural selection. It occurs if a property with one function is converted into a property with another function, and describes a feature that performs a function that was not produced by natural selection for its current use. It can be considered as an [[Adaptation|adaptation]] where the current function of a component or property no longer matches the past function. The function the component has now is not the same function the component had while it has evolved under natural selection in the first place. During an exaptation process, old components selected by [[Evolution|evolution]] for some particular function or purpose are recruited by evolution to participate in new interactions and take over new functions. |
Exaptation is one of three basic ways to cross a larger fitness barrier in [[Evolution|evolution]] (bypass it, tunnel through it, or overcome it), a barrier which is too large to cross it by the normal means of mutation, adaptation and natural selection. Therefore it is also one of the reasons for the [[Emergence|emergence]] of [[Complexity|complexity]] in [[Evolutionary System|evolutionary systems]], one explanation of how very complex structures might evolve from simpler structures, especially for those structures with seem to be [[Complexity|irreducibly complex]]. | Exaptation is one of three basic ways to cross a larger fitness barrier in [[Evolution|evolution]] (bypass it, tunnel through it, or overcome it), a barrier which is too large to cross it by the normal means of mutation, adaptation and natural selection. Therefore it is also one of the reasons for the [[Emergence|emergence]] of [[Complexity|complexity]] in [[Evolutionary System|evolutionary systems]], one explanation of how very complex structures might evolve from simpler structures, especially for those structures with seem to be [[Complexity|irreducibly complex]]. | ||
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"Exaptation - a missing term in the science of form" | "Exaptation - a missing term in the science of form" | ||
Paleobiology 8 (1982): 4-15 | Paleobiology 8 (1982): 4-15 | ||
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| + | == Links == | ||
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| + | * Wikipedia Link for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exaptation Exaptation] | ||
[[Category:Basic Principles]] [[Category:Evolutionary Principles]] | [[Category:Basic Principles]] [[Category:Evolutionary Principles]] | ||
