Ecological Adaptation of Aquatic Mammals

908 Words4 Pages
ECOLOGICAL ADAPTATION OF AQUATIC ORGANISMS INTRODUCTION All living organisms are affected by the environment they live in; therefore they have to undergo a few changes in order to fit in the environments they live in. Each ecosystem has its own environmental challenges and therefore the essence of this essay is to explain the ecological adaptation of aquatic organisms. The essay will start by defining the key words like adaptation and ecosystem followed by explaining the two types of aquatic ecosystems and how the aquatic organisms adapt in the two types of aquatic ecosystems. According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary (2004:5), adaptation is a change or the process of change by which an organism or species becomes better suited to its environment. According to Charles Darwin theory of evolution by natural selection, the organisms adapt to their environment to become better fitted to survive and passing their genes to the next generation. (As quoted from http://www.sparknotes.com/biology/evolution/darwin/terms.html). In summary adaptation is the way animals get used to their environment. Adaptation has categories namely; physiological, metaphysical and behavioral. Physiological adaptation looks at the body responses of organisms to the conditions in the environment, example, ability to produce venom. Metaphysical adaptation is the structural features of an organism due to their environment. Behavioral adaptations concentrate on the characteristics which are learnt or inherited, e.g. language, swarming. The aquatic ecosystem comprises fresh water and marine ecosystem. The major difference between the two ecosystems is salt levels the fresh water bodies have lower salt concentration in comparison to the marine water bodies. Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living within aquatic environments. They are also referred to as hydrophytes or aquatic
Open Document