What is the Difference Between Acclimation and Adaptation?
🆚 Go to Comparative Table 🆚Acclimation and adaptation are two processes that describe how organisms adjust to changes in their environment. While they share some similarities, there are key differences between the two:
- Nature of the change: Acclimation is a short-term, rapid, and temporary adjustment of an organism to a changing environment, while adaptation is a long-term, permanent adjustment of a group of organisms to a changing environment.
- Reversibility: Acclimation is reversible, meaning that an organism can acclimate to a new environment and then adjust back to its original environment once the conditions change. Adaptation, on the other hand, is irreversible and occurs over many generations.
- Genetic impact: Adaptation involves a change in the genotype of a population in response to an environmental stressor, while acclimation involves a change in the phenotype of an individual organism in response to environmental stressors.
- Time scale: Acclimation occurs rapidly, sometimes in as little as a few minutes, while adaptation occurs much more slowly, usually across many generations, as a result of natural selection.
In summary, acclimation is a short-term, reversible, and rapid adjustment of an individual organism to environmental changes, while adaptation is a long-term, irreversible, and gradual adjustment of a population to environmental changes.
Comparative Table: Acclimation vs Adaptation
The following table highlights the differences between acclimation and adaptation:
| Feature | Acclimation | Adaptation |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Acclimation is a short-term, rapid, temporary adjustment of an organism to a changing environment. Adaptation is a long-term, permanent adjustment of a group of organisms to a changing environment. | |
| Time Scale | Acclimation occurs within days to weeks. Adaptation occurs over many generations. | |
| Reversibility | Acclimation can be reversed once the previous conditions are met. Adaptation is irreversible. | |
| Genetic Impact | Acclimation has no long-term effect on the genetic mechanisms of the acclimatized organism. Adaptation involves genetic changes as adverse environments persist over several generations of a population. | |
| Environmental Changes | Acclimation is the coordinated phenotypic response developed by the animal to a specific stressor in the environment. Adaptation is the response to several simultaneous stressors in the environment. |
In summary, acclimation is a short-term, temporary adjustment that can be reversed and does not affect the genetic mechanisms of the organism, while adaptation is a long-term, permanent adjustment that occurs over many generations and involves genetic changes.
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