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How vs. why questions: Proximate view How an individual organism's structures function Ontogeny (development) Developmental explanations for changes in individuals, from DNA to their current form Mechanism (causation) Mechanistic explanations for how an organism's structures work Ultimate (evolutionary) view
A functional characteristic is known in evolutionary biology as an adaptation, and the research strategy for investigating whether a character is adaptive is known as adaptationism. Although assuming that a character is functional may be helpful in research, some characteristics of organisms are non-functional, formed as accidental spandrels ...
The biological basis of personality is a collection of brain systems and mechanisms that underlie human personality. Human neurobiology, especially as it relates to complex traits and behaviors, is not well understood, but research into the neuroanatomical and functional underpinnings of personality are an active field of research.
Biological processes are regulated by many means; examples include the control of gene expression, protein modification or interaction with a protein or substrate molecule. Homeostasis: regulation of the internal environment to maintain a constant state; for example, sweating to reduce temperature
A process theory is a system of ideas that explains how an entity changes and develops. [1] Process theories are often contrasted with variance theories , that is, systems of ideas that explain the variance in a dependent variable based on one or more independent variables .
On the organ and tissue scale in mammals and other animals, examples include the circulatory system, the respiratory system, and the nervous system. On the micro to the nanoscopic scale, examples of biological systems are cells, organelles, macromolecular complexes and regulatory pathways.
Functional diversity is widely considered to be "the value and the range of those species and organismal traits that influence ecosystem functioning" [3] In this sense, the use of the term "function" may apply to individuals, populations, communities, trophic levels, or evolutionary process (i.e. considering the function of adaptations). [3]
They disagree on how important self-organization is in other areas of biology. The mathematical biologist Stuart Kauffman suggested in 1993 that self-organization may play a role alongside natural selection in three areas of evolutionary biology, namely population dynamics, molecular evolution, and morphogenesis.