THE adaptive irradiation or divergent adaptation it can be understood as a phenomenon in which the same species give rise to other different species within their adaptive nuclei according to different environments. The events mentioned above can occur in a relatively short time.
These species have a high degree of relatedness, the difference is that they developed in different environments and consequently, they have different functions from other species according to the habitat that they are. located.
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Let's imagine several different environments, in these environments there are migrations of species to other environments different from their habitat natural, this migration can occur in both animals and plants, these species arrive in these environments and consequently reproduce new species.
Therefore, there is a new scenario, there are creations of new distinct natural habitats, with this there is a variation in offers of food, that is, in an environment such as forest, desert, an island, there will be scattered various divergent habitats, these habitats they offer shelter, water, survival, safety, places to make nests, with this scenario, there are several and various species to be adapt to the location.
The first to have the idea of this phenomenon was Charles Darwin, who observed that in the islands called the Galapagos, located in the Pacific Ocean, there were certain species of birds alike, these birds migrated through several islands giving rise to several other species, 14 species of birds were found during the research, called finches, in the structures of these finches it was analyzed that the beaks were related to the species of food of each island that the bird resided, animals with stronger beaks, resistant, used to breaking stronger husks and seeds, and others with more delicate beaks and less resistant husks, used the beak to feed softer seeds to facilitate the breaking of the food.
With these characteristics, the researcher was thoughtful and decided to go deeper into the species of finches, with the following doubt: "If they were of the same family, of the same species, why did they have characteristics many different? The scientist through this questioning came to the conclusion that species do not remain the same for all time, but evolve into other species with different functions and similarities.
These changes over time for Darwin occur for species to adapt to new environments that arise, thus calling natural selection, but his theory it is still not accepted by some researchers who claim that there are no great scientific foundations, especially by conservative researchers at the time.
The homologous organs is a great ally to know the evolution of organisms over time, the same are structures that are similar in different types of living beings, but they have different functions, this occurs mainly in adaptive radiation, as the species gives rise to other species with adaptive functions different from one of the others. Living beings that have these organs are usually part of a shared ancestry, we can cite tetrapod limbs that are vertebrate terrestrial and basically have 4 members, we have as an example mammals, birds, reptiles, they are very similar, but with activities not so similar.
Another example:
As we can see, both have the same structures, but with different functions, this is due to the fact that, in the course of biological evolution, the members of each living being they were adapting according to the environment that was inserted, so each one with its specific function within that habitat, suffering for several years transformations.
For a better understanding of adaptive irradiation and its evolution, it is necessary to understand the types of speciation resulting from each evolution of species, namely 3: Allopathic, Parapatric, Sympatric speciation, with these levels it is possible to identify the formation of species in several factors:
ALLOPATRIC SPECIATION: This type of speciation occurs when there is geographic isolation, with this geographic isolation, living beings adapt to survival in different environments, thus generating different species.
PARAPATRIC SPECIATION: In these cases there is no geographic isolation, but a great expansion of the area with living beings of the same species, we can analyze that in parapatric speciation the level of gene flow is lower, that is, the migration of population of living beings is low, this is due to the fact of mating being restricted in a single area, with this there are formations of species that do not share the same gene as the ancestors above.
SIMPRATIC SPECIATION: When a population of living beings leave their natural habitat and explore other means, other ecological niches, that is, new ways of life in the ecological environment in which they live, these species undergo a kind of adaptation, we have as an example a parasite that changes its host, or an insect that changes its flower, it is the changes and adaptations in a new niche ecological.
Many confuse adaptive irradiation and convergence, which are two adaptive processes, adaptive convergence occurs in different ancestry, living beings are subjected to the same natural selection, in the end natural selection ends up being common, individuals of different species have several similar characteristics, such as organs, physiology, that is. it is because they have the same natural selection, unlike adaptive radiation, which does not necessarily need to be in the same place, in order to have the same process of selection
In adaptive irradiation, ancestry is common, but common ancestors enter into a process of colonization of biomes different, with this there is a distinct natural selection, that is, living beings have different physiological characteristics, anatomical
Therefore, when natural selection is common and individuals share the same trait, the process involves an analogy. within the convergence, in the adaptive, it is just a close structure, that is, homology within the irradiation adaptive.
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