| 释义 |
preadapt, v.|priːəˈdæpt|
[pre- A. 1.]
trans. To adapt beforehand; spec. in Biol., to adapt (an organism) for life in conditions not yet available to it. Hence preaˈdapted ppl. a. [in Biol. tr. F. préadapté (L. Cuénot La Genèse des Espèces Animales (1911) iv. 291)].
1849Sears Regeneration i. ii. (1859) 27 The same propensities in men will..preadapt the organs to every shade of meaning. 1915Eugenics Rev. VII. 56 By being warm-blooded, mammals and birds are enabled to maintain their normal activity throughout a wide range of temperature, and they may therefore be said to be preadapted to all temperatures within that range. 1947New Biol. III. 90 For the most part cave animals are drawn from groups habitually living in damp, dim places, such as under stones or at the bottoms of streams; they are, so to speak, preadapted to life in caves before they enter them. 1952Ibid. XIII. 25 An animal adapted to living in a small isolated volume would be preadapted to captivity. 1969J. M. Weller Course of Evol. ix. 467 The evolutionary development..of these advanced and more complex feathers, whose original function was insulation, preadapted the very early birds for flight. 1970T. H. Eaton Evolution viii. 121 In retrospect we can say that some thecodonts were ‘preadapted’ in certain ways for the life of birds. 1976Sci. Amer. Aug. 38/2 Such a trend, may, however, have helped to preadapt the Egyptians to a ready acceptance of food production later.
Hence preaˈdaptive a., causing or characterized by preadaptation.
1915Eugenics Rev. VII. 50 One can call indifferent or semi-useful, characters in a species which become evident adaptations on removal to a new habitat or on the acquirement of new habits, preadaptive or prophetic characters, or more briefly, preadaptations. 1944G. G. Simpson Tempo & Mode in Evol. vi. 186 The direct development of adaptations in one environment may be preadaptive for another. 1969J. M. Weller Course of Evol. i. 20 Potentially preadaptive mutations..are likely to accumulate within a population as recessives. |