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This paper examines the environment as a source of dimensions of stimulation that are directly related to the individual's affective response to his environment, and his behavioral adaptation to it. The concept of an optimal level of stimulation is introduced, along with a view of environmental stress as resulting from conditions of excessive deviation from such optimal levels, with particular reference to variations in intensity, diversity, and patterning of the stimulus input. This analysis provides the framework for a consideration of behavioral adaptation to the environment by reference to the concept of adaptation level. Levels of adaptation to particular environmental dimensions, established as a function of past exposure, are shown to act as potent determiners of the individual's evaluation of his environment, as well as representing a plausible basis for the optimal level of stimulation principle itself. The presentation proceeds to an examination of the process of adaptation to the environment as a multilayered process, and to a discussion of the concept of the cost of adaptation as it applies in the behavioral realm. Finally, adaptation is contrasted with an alternative mechanism, adjustment, involving active alteration of the environment by the individual, and the relative place to be accorded to these two processes in the individual's relation to the environment is considered.

Vision plays an important role in the behavioral adaptation of animals and in the control of neuroendocrine responses to light such as that of the pineal melatonin-forming enzyme, hydroxyindole-O-methyltransferase (HIOMT). Previous experiments have suggested that there is a separation of function between primary and accessory components of the visual pathways in the mediation of behavioral responses and the pineal HIOMT response to light. The present experiments were performed to test this further. Rats were trained to make a simple visual discrimination (light-on vs. light-off). Lesions were placed which either: (1) transected the inferior accessory optic tracts bilaterally sparing one primary optic tract or (2) transected both primary optic tracts sparing the inferior accessory optic tracts. Following accessory optic tract lesions, the pineal HIOMT response to light was lost but the visual discrimination habit was retained. In contrast to this primary optic tract lesions resulted in loss of the visual discrimination but preservation of the pineal HIOMT response. These data support the view that there is a separation of function among the central visual pathways.

Adequate documentation was often wanting for interpretation of conditions surrounding the success or failure of an exotic. There were also known differences in species composition and other circumstances which made comparisons between SCOL lakes difficult.Successful colonization appeared possible where a sufficiently plastic new species found a niche either temporarily or permanently void. The lack of normal ecological constraints favored the explosion of a colonist, and examples were found which indicated both physiological and behavioral adaptation to permit establishment. The data suggested predation may be important in suppressing invaders. The higher diversity of littoral fish communities provided greater resistance to colonists. The role of exploitation in the fate of any colonist seemed chiefly in its effect on diversity and on stock oscillations. Eutrophication favored the success of colonists through continued destabilization of communities. It was suggested that management should proceed towards greater diversity to minimize the chances of outbreaks of pest fishes.

Several hypotheses of behavioral adaption in economic contexts of a variable habitat are put forth and examined in terms of the decisions and ethos concerning the risks and modes of rationality nec...

Three experiments were performed to determine (1) the time course of changes in ingestive behavior associated with oral infusion of taste substances, and (2) the possible role of changes in the tonic chorda tympani response in the behavioral effect of oral infusion. Experiments 1 and 2 examined 2 different procedures with a variety of sapid solutions to detect alterations in ingestion following oral adaptation. Decrements in Na-saccharin licking were found over a 2-hr period of continuous Na-saccharin stimulation suggesting that gustatory adaptation in the rat extends over a considerable time period and that the effect of the infusion was to alter the incentive motivation properties of the sapid substance. Experiment 3 sought an altered tonic responsivity of the chorda tympani nerve which might correlate with the decrement in ingestion seen in Experiment 2. No evidence of a neural decrement over a 2-hr time was found and it was concluded that central processes were probably involved in the behavioral adaptation found in the second experiment.

During the past decade many studies have considered the effects of crowding on behavioral and physiological phenomena in mammals and birds. However, most of these studies have considered short-term effects and hence the problems associated with prolonged crowding have rarely been considered. This review will consider the information available that might help us to understand the physiological effects of continued crowding. Also, an attempt will be made to put these effects into perspective for the whole life of the individual. Since most of the information available concerns mammals, this review will, with a few exceptions, limit the examples to mammals. The extension of work on mammals to other species, even birds, is questionable since it appears that at least some of the physiological phenomena are entirely different in birds [22].

Publisher Summary The study of psychological problems and the adaptation of men on Antarctic expeditions is important both for the successful running of the expeditions and for an insight into man's behavior in total isolation. This chapter explores the observations made on a group of the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE) at Davis, as a part of an overall study of physiology, health, and behavioral adaptation. The investigation was designed to add factual data on the Australian expeditions as the Australian research in psychology prior to this expedition had been mainly on the assessment and establishment of selection criteria using rating scales and assessments by officers-in-charge and debriefing-type interviews supplemented by sociometric data. In the study, the medical officer kept detailed daily records for 13 months to summarize the Davis group's adaptation to Antarctic life. None of the men, apart from the medical officer, knew that such records were being kept. The analysis of the data was not begun until the expeditions returned to Australia.

Publisher Summary Wintering-over is regarded as a stressful experience for even the most well-balanced of men. It deprives men of the comfort of their normal surroundings and confines them indoors for substantial periods of time. This chapter discusses the adaptation of New Zealand research personnel in the Antarctic. A total number of 93 people were studied in 5 successive years starting from 1967, before and after they went to Antarctica. 65 people were in winter parties either at Scott Base or Lake Vanda Station for 12 months, and 28 people were in summer field parties for approximately 2 months in various parts of the Ross Dependency. The composition of the two different kinds of party varied according to the functions they were required to perform. Initial data were obtained from the subjects during their training courses in New Zealand, and further data were obtained in Antarctica when they had completed their assignments and were about to return home. Final data were obtained when the subjects had been home for periods of 1 month and 12 months. The chapter focuses on the psychological and behavioral adaptation of men to social isolation.