Behavior that enables an organism to function effectively in its environment.
Adaptation describes the process of change in organisms or species to accommodate to a particular environment, enabling their survival. Adaptation is crucial to the process of natural selection. Ethologists, scientists who study the behavior of animals in their natural habitats from an evolutionary perspective, have documented two main types of adaptive behavior. Some behaviors, known as "closed programs," transmit from one...
Source: Encyclopedia of Psychology, ©2005 Gale Cengage. All Rights Reserved. Full copyright.
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