User:Jonkravetz/sandbox

Examples of Adaptations
Adaptations of animals: Adaptations of plants: Adaptations of humans:
 * Rhinoceros beetles use their horns as weapons during combat to fight over access to females. There is no evidence that females are more attracted to males with larger horns. Different species of rhinoceros beetles have anatomical differences in respect to the size and shape of their horns. This "weapon diversity" allows for each respective species to have the most advantageous weapon for their particular environment.
 * Seahorses have distinctive S-curve bodies, allowing them the leverage and flexibility to strike prey. Their closest relative and ancestor, a tube-shaped pipefish, is said to be 30% less efficient than the seahorse at striking prey. Seahorses are slow swimmers, but their "sit and wait" strategy, combined with their effective strike, allows them to hide and attack elusive prey. The anatomical shift from a straight body to a curved one should have resulted in increased fitness with respect to certain environments, facilitated by an improved strike distance.
 * The saguaro cactus has been referred to as the "master of desert survival". Several interesting adaptations have made this plant capable of surviving in a harsh desert environment. Like most desert plants, the cactus is covered with a thick waxy coating that helps keep water in the plant by reducing transpiration. The exterior of the cactus is covered in spiky bristles protecting it's water source from thirsty animals. The saguaro's root system is unique in the sense that it consists of a large taproot that can grow to be over 5 feet long as well as a broad network of main roots that lie just a few inches below the surface. This root structure allows the cactus to access underground water sources, while maximizing water intake in the case of any rainfall. The saguaro is of particular interest to evolutionary biologists due to it's extreme specialization.
 * Pitcher plants are usually found in areas with nutrient deficient soils. These special plants have adapted a particular means for acquiring essential nutrients. Most pitcher plants secrete a nectar like substance which is sweet in taste. When insects fall in to the bellow of the pot, they are drowned and dissolved in a weak acidic solution that helps the plant to digest. The plant is able to absorb the nitrogen and phosphate from the insects that other plants are able to absorb from the soil. Some pitcher plants have special adaptations which have led to mutualisms. A mutualism is a mutually beneficial interaction between individuals of two species. The genus Nepenthes contains three notable species with are engaged in mutualistic associations with animals. The summit Rat, R. baluensis, feeds on sugary exudates of the N. rajah pitcher plant and defecates into them. The pitcher plants are then able to digest the scat and absorb nutrients that it can not obtain from the nutrient-deficient substrate.
 * As human populations migrated to different parts of the world, they evolved in order to adapt to environmental changes. Lactase persistence is one of the clearest examples of physiological adaptations in humans. Lactase is the enzyme that helps mammals digest milk. While lactase production normally decreases after the weaning phase, some humans have continued to produce lactase at similar levels through adulthood. Geneticists have traced the lactase persistence trait to a single mutation in human DNA. Alleles that are associated with lactase persistence correlate with the origins of animal domestication and dairying in Europe.
 * Obsessive Character is described as a non-conditional heritable behavioral complex, that evolved in response to changing selective pressures to populations coming out of Northern Africa during the Upper Paleolithic and Early Neolithic time periods. Compulsiveness, hyper awareness, and parsimoniousness became adaptations in which death from starvation and exposure became more prevalent than death from disease or violence. The adaptation of obsessive character traits could be defined as both a physiological as well as behavioral adaptation.
 * Evolutionary psychologists have conducted research showing that men rate women with a waist-to-hip ratio of close to.7 as relatively attractive. This hourglass-like figure is optimal for women in being able to produce offspring. In the past, men who did not have this mating preference were less likely to successfully reproduce. Thus, the modern male's preference is an adaptive outcome associated with reproductive success.
 * In regard to female partner selection, women tend to value qualities that are known to be linked to resource acquisition, such as ambition, industriousness, social status, and somewhat older age. Physical appearance in choice of a mate is still important to a woman because of its link to health. Historically, women have selected a mate on his ability to invest resources in her, his ability to physically protect her, and his ability to be a good parent. One could argue that even though women have become more financially independent in recent decades, most women still place a greater emphasis on male behavioral cues rather than physical traits.