How does Defensive Environmental Adaptation Occur

[gnetic]

It's my understanding that Adaptation occurs usually through more prominent genes in an organisms' population drift or mutate. How does a trait like camouflage occur, when the experience that the organism actually engages in to warrant said camouflage in turn kills it. In other words; How can an organism pass on a trait that it usually doesn't survive to pass on.

[dragonstar57]

It's my understanding that Adaptation occurs usually through more prominent genes in an organisms' population drift or mutate. How does a trait like camouflage occur, when the experience that the organism actually engages in to warrant said camouflage in turn kills it. In other words; How can an organism pass on a trait that it usually doesn't survive to pass on.

I believe that the idea is that random shifts in genetic code of individuals bring about new traits and that when the random shifts produce a trait that makes the organism more likely to survive it will be passed on.

I do not think that there is any theory that to gain traits to not be eaten one has to be eaten.

what would be a better question (what i think you might have been intending to ask)

is "how does an organism survive before it evolves a necessary trait to it's own survival"

while it is an interesting question it seems that many people seem to think you are pushing some kind of creationist agenda if you ask a question about exactly how a particular trait occurred or for a more specific explanation of evolution.

[hypervalent_iodine]

It's my understanding that Adaptation occurs usually through more prominent genes in an organisms' population drift or mutate. How does a trait like camouflage occur, when the experience that the organism actually engages in to warrant said camouflage in turn kills it. In other words; How can an organism pass on a trait that it usually doesn't survive to pass on.

 

You'll have to excuse my explanation as I am certainly no biologist.

 

As a matter of illustration, I think it is a mistake to assume that the ability to camouflage is a trait that appears within an individual species over the course of its lifetime. It is inherent. The appearance of camouflage within a population is a result of positive selection - i.e. organisms who do not posses the trait have an intrinsically low ability to survive and thus do not pass on their genetic information to subsequent generations, whereas those that do posses it will.

[Stefan-CoA]

You'll have to excuse my explanation as I am certainly no biologist.

 

As a matter of illustration, I think it is a mistake to assume that the ability to camouflage is a trait that appears within an individual species over the course of its lifetime. It is inherent. The appearance of camouflage within a population is a result of positive selection - i.e. organisms who do not posses the trait have an intrinsically low ability to survive and thus do not pass on their genetic information to subsequent generations, whereas those that do posses it will.

 

I think it might be a mistake to assume it's an ability in the first place (except for chameleons and the like) but generally camouflage is part of the organism's build. As with the stick insect, or that butterfly with the owl eyes on its wings. The peppered moth is a beautiful example of how this works. You have white moths that are nearly invisible against white buildings, therefore the rate of predations is low. But in the population also exists an allele for a black moth that pops up now and then (It doesn't confer the ability to change colour at will, it's exactly the same moth, just one is white, the other black). Now, the black ones are obviously very visible against a white background thus making them easy prey. But as pollution and soot levels increase, the walls become darker and darker, shifting the balance of power. Now the black moths are less likely to be eaten. Thus allowing them to propagate. Note: Even if both parents are white moths, it is still possible, due to random mutation, to have black offspring, the incidence is just much lower.

 

So it has to do with survival pressure (natural selection) and random mutations. If there is a mutation that allows an organism to survive given a set of circumstances, this organism will be in a position to pass that trait/mutation along to its progeny and so forth.

 

 

 

[hypervalent_iodine]

I think it might be a mistake to assume it's an ability in the first place (except for chameleons and the like) but generally camouflage is part of the organism's build.

 

 

 

 

Semantics. That's more or less what I meant.

[Stefan-CoA]

Semantics. That's more or less what I meant.

 

Sorry, I did not know that.

[SMF]

Gnetic, could you please restate your question. I don't understand what you are asking well enough to comment. SM