The Differences Between Adaptation & Evolution

Time

• Adaptation looks at the short-term changes of a certain trait, while evolution reviews the entire history of an organism. Think of adaptation as a look at traits from one generation to another and evolution as the entire family tree. Adaptation looks at temporary changes, while evolution looks at permanent changes.

Survival

• Evolution looks at how a species changed from its first appearance on the planet through today. The most famous example is the evolution of the modern human from a single-celled organism over the course of a few million years. Adaptation, however, looks at how a certain trait that the organism possessed during its evolution survived while others did not. The loss of traits may be the focus of some research as well. Mutations are another focus of adaptation studies, as some traits that modern organisms exhibit are the result of earlier mutations that survived from one generation to another.

Significance

• Adaptation is a way to explain why certain traits survived and others didn't. It works to understand how and why mutations were created and passed on, and how a trait used heavily in one generation becomes obsolete in another. For instance, adaptation serves to explain why humans have tailbones, but the tails are no longer present. Evolution, however, explains how organisms shed and obtained traits to change over the history of the species. Essentially, evolution explains how and adaptation explains why.

Considerations

• Although the terms are used interchangeably, they are different. In fact, adaptation is a part of the larger scientific field that is evolution. Within that field, adaptation resides with terms like natural selection, mutation, and exaptation.