Question

quiz instructions
read the following and then answer the questions that follow:
two friends were talking about adaptations. they each had different ideas about what happens when an organism’s environment changes so that it is very different from the organism’s existing environment.
this is what they said:
leslie: “i don’t think individual organisms can adapt to changes in their environments.”
jordan: “i think individual organisms can adapt to changes in their environments if they need to.”
question 1
1 pts
who do you agree with?
○ leslie
○ jordan

Explanation:

In the context of biological adaptations, individual organisms typically do not undergo adaptive changes (evolutionary adaptations occur at the population level over generations). However, some organisms can have phenotypic plasticity (short - term, non - evolutionary adaptations) to respond to environmental changes. But the traditional view in basic biology education about "adaptation" in the sense of evolutionary change is that individual organisms don't adapt (evolution is a population - level, long - term process). Leslie's statement aligns with the idea that evolutionary adaptation is a population - level process over time, and individual organisms can't adapt in the evolutionary sense. Jordan's view implies a more Lamarckian - like idea which is not supported by modern evolutionary theory for long - term, heritable adaptations. So, based on the standard biological understanding of adaptation (evolutionary), Leslie's view is more in line.

Answer:

Leslie