Acclimatization
From EvoWiki
| See Acclimatization in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. |
Acclimatization is how an organism copes with long-term changes to its environment. This involves a long-term, but reversible, change in physiology or behaviour. Examples include an animal growing longer fur in winter (or shedding it in summer) or a mountain climber becoming acclimatized - by producing more red blood cells - to low oxygen levels at altitude.
Acclimatization is distinct from adaptation in that it is a reversible physiological (or behavioural) change occuring over the lifetime of a single organism, whereas adaptation occurs by genetic changes and natural selection over many generations.
Acclimatization is also distinct from homeostatic regulation. The rapid change of a system to revert it back to a particular level, or 'set point' is homeostasis (e.g. shivering to increase body temperature), whereas acclimatization occurs by slowly altering that 'set point' (e.g. coping with a lower normal body temperature, as animals do during hibernation).
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This page is part of the EvoWiki Encyclopedia of Anatomy and Physiology. |
