Adaptation and RAM (random accidental mutations)

Question

What is the difference between the two? I read that adaptations are able to be passed on like genetic mutations. I thought an adaptation was not able to do so and was more of a "nurture" thing! Please clarify and differentiate between the two...I have once again been perplexed by Sparknotes 101!!!

=)

Thanks..

*answer mine with a GOOD answer and I will return the favor ; ) *

Answer 1

Adaptations are favorable variations for the setting.  Many adaptations are heritable.  Mutations may be silent or harmful as well as beneficial.  Mutation is the source of variation, but some variation will exist within a population.

Answer 2

Adaptation, in an evolutionary sense, is a characteristic that has been favored by natural selection since it increases the fitness (the ability to reproduce) of the organism.

Adaptation is a misnomer since it implies a response from the organism to a selection pressure. When in fact it is a characteristic that already existed in a population of organisms, it just so happens that his characteristic is more favorable given the present environment (selection pressures).

Organisms in a population naturally vary in characteristics. Mechanisms for variation are genetic recombination and RAM (to name a couple). Variation by RAM arises when a mutation has occurred in the germline (in the cell that produce eggs and sperm) of parental organism, since it is only germline genomes that get passed on to offspring.  

Answer 3

I'm not familiar with the Sparknotes context, but:

[1] ALL mutations are random and accidental.

[2] however, some mutations can be beneficial, some can be detrimental, and some can be neutral. A beneficial mutation grants a survival or reproductive advantage to its possessor, and therefore will be selected for by natural selection (conversely, a detrimental mutation will be selected against, and a neutral mutation neither selected for nor against).

Advantageous traits will therefore increase in frequency in a population, while disadvantageous ones will decrease in frequency.

I don't know what they mean by an "Adaptation" in this context. If it is a genetic adaptation, then it is a mutation as described above. but if it is a LEARNED adaptation (like monkeys learning how to separate rice grains from sand by washing the grains in water), then this can still be an advantage, but is not genetically coded for.