Acclimatization

Acclimatization is the process by which an individual organism adjusts to a change in its environment, allowing it to maintain fitness across a range of environmental conditions. It occurs within a short period of time, within the organism's own lifetime, either as a one time occurrence or as part of a periodic cycle, such as a mammal shedding its heavy winter fur for a lighter summer coat. Organisms can adjust their morphological, behavioral, physical, and biochemical traits in response to changes in their environment. Although the capacity to acclimatize to novel environments has been documented in thousands of species, researchers still know very little about how and why organisms acclimatize the way that they do. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/