A trait that is characterized by being more harmful than helpful
For concept related to climate change, see Climate change adaptation § Maladaptation.
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Maladaptation" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(December 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Part of the Biology series on
Evolution
Mechanisms and processes
Adaptation
Evolution
Genetic drift
Gene flow
History of life
Maladaptation
Modern synthesis
Mutation
Natural selection
Neutral theory
Population genetics
Speciation
Research and history
Introduction
Evidence
Evolutionary history of life
History
Level of support
Modern synthesis
Objections / Controversy
Social effect
Theory and fact
Evolutionary biology fields
Cladistics
Ecological genetics
Evolutionary anthropology
Evolutionary development
Evolutionary psychology
Molecular evolution
Phylogenetics
Population genetics
Systematics
Evolution portal
v
t
e
In evolution, a maladaptation (/ˌmælædæpˈteɪʃən/) is a trait that is (or has become) more harmful than helpful, in contrast with an adaptation, which is more helpful than harmful. All organisms, from bacteria to humans, display maladaptive and adaptive traits. In animals (including humans), adaptive behaviors contrast with maladaptive ones. Like adaptation, maladaptation may be viewed as occurring over geological time, or within the lifetime of one individual or a group.
It can also signify an adaptation that, whilst reasonable at the time, has become less and less suitable and more of a problem or hindrance in its own right, as time goes on. This is because it is possible for an adaptation to be poorly selected or become more of a dysfunction than a positive adaptation, over time.
It can be noted that the concept of maladaptation, as initially discussed in a late 19th-century context, is based on a flawed view of evolutionary theory. It was believed that an inherent tendency for an organism's adaptations to degenerate would translate into maladaptations and soon become crippling if not "weeded out" (see also eugenics). In reality, the advantages conferred by any one adaptation are rarely decisive for survival on its own, but rather balanced against other synergistic and antagonistic adaptations, which consequently cannot change without affecting others.
In other words, it is usually impossible to gain an advantageous adaptation without incurring "maladaptations". Consider a seemingly trivial example: it is apparently extremely hard for an animal to evolve the ability to breathe well in air and in water. Better adapting to one means being less able to do the other.
In evolution, a maladaptation (/ˌmælædæpˈteɪʃən/) is a trait that is (or has become) more harmful than helpful, in contrast with an adaptation, which...
alike, all non-adapted systems experience maladaptation in their own way,... But in the chaos of maladaptation, there is an order. It seems, paradoxically...
The politics of climate change results from different perspectives on how to respond to climate change. Global warming is driven largely by the emissions...
processes Adaptation Evolution Genetic drift Gene flow History of life Maladaptation Modern synthesis Mutation Natural selection Neutral theory Population...
fruit-eating mammals inhabiting the same ecosystems today suggest maladaptation. Maladaptation of such fruiting plants will intensify as ongoing climate change...
Paul; White, Iain; Connelly, Angela (1 September 2015). "Insurance as maladaptation: Resilience and the 'business as usual' paradox" (PDF). Environment...
place in relation to short-term climate variability. But this may cause maladaptation to longer-term climate trends. The expansion of irrigation in Egypt...
experienced. There are virtues that develop in healthy circumstances and maladaptations that develop in unhealthy circumstances. It consists of 8 stages. While...
sufficient to reverse the blood flow through the defect, however, the maladaptation is considered irreversible, and a heart–lung transplant or a lung transplant...
not found for each task there are potential negative outcomes called maladaptation's (abnormally positive) and malignancies (abnormally negative), where...
Martin Seligman." Kaczynski's understanding of technology, his idea of maladaptation, and his critique of leftism are partly derived from Ellul's 1954 book...
ethnographic study of transnational and interracial adoption. Fictive Kinship: Making Maladaptation Palatable Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine...
maladapted individuals, and consequently the mutations that caused the maladaptation. At the same time, new mutations occur, resulting in a mutation–selection...
resistance to pathogens in wild populations. With the increasing risks of maladaptation in organisms as a result of climate change and other perturbations,...
depression, substance abuse, and other forms of mental and physical maladaptation. Stress caused by acculturation has been heavily documented in phenomenological...
attempts to develop a detailed typology of psychopathies. Regarding maladaptation, ubiquity, and stability as the three main symptoms of behavioral pathology...
this profile, e.g., genetic vulnerabilities, brain disease state, and maladaptations to the chronic therapy. Bostwick JM, Hecksel KA, Stevens SR, Bower JH...
Lactancia y parentesco. Una Mirada antropológica. Anthropos Fictive Kinship: Making Maladaptation Palatable Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine...
aftermath of disasters and that disasters are a consequence of human maladaptation to the hazardous environment. Matthewman, Steve (2015). Disasters, risks...
intestinal immune system." Tinnitus, a phantom auditory sensation, is a maladaptation resulting from hearing loss most often caused by exposure to loud noise...
Background population maladaptation can be driven by natural processes. Human actions of habitat fragmentation drive maladaptation up and adaptive potential...
poppy fields, consuming the plants, and showing signs of intoxication. Maladaptation Siegel, Ronald K. Intoxication: The Universal Drive for Mind-Altering...
Global Information
