So, again, we can interpret this correlation in semiotic terms as a relation of identity.
That is, the material impacts of the enviroment on the cell population betoken selected DNA values in the species genome.
Note that while it is the instances of the species genome that are materially impacted by the environment, it is the species genome — analogous to what we would call the “system” — that evolves through this process — as it is with the evolution of species of language, of course.
This is the species genome as recognition system. An event in one domain specifies an event in a second domain.