Behavior adaptation and selection.

6 pagesThe evolutionary approach to behavior is concerned with the evolutionary origin and adaptive function of behavioral traits. Like any other part of the phenotype, behavior can be shaped by natural selection to produce adaptations. However, behavior often shows large phenotypic variation and flexibility, and can be both – subject to selection and a major agent of selection. Therefore, the study of adaptation and evolution of behavior is a particularly complex one, involving a wide range of methodologies and techniques, including mathematical modeling, comparative methods, phenotypic engineering, quantitative genetics, genetic dissection, and artificial selection