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Biological Function

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

Synonyms

Adaptation; Biofunction; Causal role; Fitness effect; Purpose; Selected effect

Definition

In biology, functions are attributed to the traits, behaviors, and parts of living things. A thing’s function can refer to its purpose, a benefit it confers on an organism, or the causal role it contributes to a more complex system capacity.

Introduction

Biologists attribute functions to a diversity of natural phenomena, from chemical and cellular processes to the organs, traits, and behavior of organisms. It is common for them to say, for example, that the koala’s pouch has the function of protecting its young, that the function of the bee dance is to direct other bees to pollen, or that chlorophyll in plants functions to absorb light and convert it into energy. Yet the term “function” is ambiguous, carrying importantly different meanings and occupying distinct explanatory projects in the biological sciences. This entry will introduce two characteristic features of biological functions,...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Caitrin Donovan

Authors
  1. Caitrin Donovan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Caitrin Donovan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, MI, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Karin Machluf

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Donovan, C. (2019). Biological Function. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2097-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2097-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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