Adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...

, in biology, is the process or trait by which organisms or population better match their environment Adaptation may also refer to:

Arts

Adaptation (arts) An adaptation is a transfer of a work of art from one style, culture or medium to another. Some common examples are: * Film adaptation, a story from another work, adapted into a film (it may be a novel, non-fiction like journalism, autobiography, ...

, a transfer of a work of art from one medium to another **

Film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...

, a story from another work, adapted into a film **

Literary adaptation Literary adaptation is the adapting of a literary source (e.g. a novel, short story, poem) to another genre or medium, such as a film, stage play, or video game. It can also involve adapting the same literary work in the same genre or medium ju ...

, a story from a literary source, adapted into another work ** **

Theatrical adaptation In a theatrical adaptation, material from another artistic medium, such as a novel or a film is re-written according to the needs and requirements of the theatre and turned into a play or musical. Elision and interpolation Directors must make ar ...

, a story from another work, adapted into a play * ''Adaptation'' (film), a 2002 film by Spike Jonze * "Adaptation" (''The Walking Dead''), a television episode *''Adaptation'', a 2012 novel by Malinda Lo

Biology and medicine

Adaptation (eye) In visual physiology, adaptation is the ability of the retina of the eye to adjust to various levels of light. Natural night vision, or scotopic vision, is the ability to see under low-light conditions. In humans, rod cells are exclusively respo ...

, the eye's adjustment to light **

Chromatic adaptation Chromatic adaptation is the human visual system’s ability to adjust to changes in illumination in order to preserve the appearance of object colors. It is responsible for the stable appearance of object colors despite the wide variation of light w ...

, visual systems' adjustments to changes in illumination for preservation of colors **

Prism adaptation Prism adaptation is a sensory-motor adaptation that occurs after the visual field has been artificially shifted laterally or vertically. It was first introduced by Hermann von Helmholtz in late 19th-century Germany as supportive evidence for his p ...

, sensory-motor adjustments after the visual field has been artificially shifted * Cellular adaptation, changes by cells/tissues in response to changed microenvironments * High-altitude adaptation, organisms and their specializations for life in high altitudes *

Neural adaptation Neural adaptation or sensory adaptation is a gradual decrease over time in the responsiveness of the sensory system to a constant stimulus. It is usually experienced as a change in the stimulus. For example, if a hand is rested on a table, the ta ...

, the responsiveness of a sensory system to a constant stimulus * The

SAID principle In physical rehabilitation and sports training, the SAID principle asserts that the human body adapts specifically to imposed demands. It demonstrates that, given stressors on the human system, whether biomechanical or neurological, there will be a ...

, a sports training concept, standing for "Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands"

Communication technology

ATM adaptation layer The use of Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) technology and services creates the need for an adaptation layer in order to support information transfer protocols, which are not based on ATM. This adaptation layer defines how to segment higher-la ...

, information transfer protocols that support Asynchronous Transfer Mode *

Content adaptation Content adaptation is the action of transforming content to adapt to device capabilities. Content adaptation is usually related to mobile devices, which require special handling because of their limited computational power, small screen size, and ...

, transforming content to adapt to device capabilities, particularly in mobile devices * Link adaptation, Adaptive coding and modulation in wireless communication

Control and information theory

Adaptation (computer science) The term “adaptation” in computer science refers to a process where an interactive system ( adaptive system) adapts its behaviour to individual users based on information acquired about its user(s) and its environment. Adaptation is one of ...

by which interactive systems adapt to individual users and environments *

Adaptive system An adaptive system is a set of interacting or interdependent entities, real or abstract, forming an integrated whole that together are able to respond to environmental changes or changes in the interacting parts, in a way analogous to either conti ...

, a set of interacting entities that enable the whole to improve its response *

Complex adaptive system A complex adaptive system is a system that is '' complex'' in that it is a dynamic network of interactions, but the behavior of the ensemble may not be predictable according to the behavior of the components. It is '' adaptive'' in that the indiv ...

, rich interactions between elements that result in feedback and adaptation *

Domain adaptation Domain adaptation is a field associated with machine learning and transfer learning. This scenario arises when we aim at learning from a source data distribution a well performing model on a different (but related) target data distribution. Fo ...

, a field associated with machine learning and transfer learning

Human sciences

* Behavioral adaptation, an adjustment to another type of behavior or environmental context *

Hedonic adaptation The hedonic treadmill, also known as hedonic adaptation, is the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes. According to this theory, as a per ...

, the ability of preserving at a stable level of happiness despite better or worse changes in the personal material life *

Psychological adaptation A psychological adaptation is a functional, cognitive or behavioral trait that benefits an organism in its environment. Psychological adaptations fall under the scope of evolved psychological mechanisms (EPMs), however, EPMs refer to a less restric ...

, a mind and body interaction which results from competitive or cooperation types of evolution *

Preconditioning (adaptation) Preconditioning occurs when an animal is exposed to a stressor or stimulus in order to prepare it for a later encounter with a similar stressor or stimulus. For example, in vaccinations, a human is exposed to an artificially weakened virus ...

, a general concept in which an entity is exposed to some type of stress or reinforcement stimulus, in order to become more resilient when and if that external factor would happen anytime in the future.

Other uses

Climate change adaptation Climate change adaptation is the process of adjusting to current or expected effects of climate change.IPCC, 2022Annex II: Glossary öller, V., R. van Diemen, J.B.R. Matthews, C. Méndez, S. Semenov, J.S. Fuglestvedt, A. Reisinger (eds.) InClimat ...

* Ecosystem-based adaptation {{disambiguation