Adaptation
Aligned to HS-LS4-4 — Next Generation Science Standards.
What this lesson teaches
As selection favors helpful inherited traits generation after generation, a population becomes better matched to its environment. This accumulated good fit between organism and environment is called an adaptation.
Worked example
When bacteria are exposed to an antibiotic, the few with resistance genes survive and multiply, so after repeated doses nearly the whole population is resistant, an adaptation to the drug.
Practice questions
- Identify an adaptation in an organism and the environment it fits.
- Show how repeated selection over generations increases a helpful trait in a population.
- Construct an evidence-based explanation for how antibiotic resistance evolves in bacteria.
Watch the lesson
Every lesson comes with a video taught in English and Spanish — the same video the QR code in the printed workbook opens.
▶ Watch this lessonEn español
Adaptación
A medida que la selección favorece los rasgos heredados útiles generación tras generación, una población se ajusta mejor a su ambiente. Este buen ajuste acumulado entre el organismo y el ambiente se llama adaptación.
Ejemplo: Cuando se expone a las bacterias a un antibiótico, las pocas que tienen genes de resistencia sobreviven y se multiplican, así que tras dosis repetidas casi toda la población es resistente: una adaptación al fármaco.
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