Structural/functional and behavioural

Contents & notes: what this topic covers

Under Structural/functional and behavioural, the JAMB Biology syllabus expects you to study:

• 3. Structural/functional and behavioural adaptations of organisms: a. adaptive colouration and its functions b. Behavioural adaptations in social animals c. Structural adaptations in organisms B: FORM AND FUNCTIONS TOPICS / CONTENTS / NOTES

Study notes & guidance

Study Structural/functional and behavioural using a recommended Biology textbook that follows the JAMB syllabus. Work through the contents listed above one by one, make brief notes in your own words, and then practise as many questions on this topic as you can — in Biology, understanding and steady practice matter far more than memorising. Use the objectives below as a checklist: if you can do each one confidently, you have mastered this topic.

Objectives — candidates should be able to

After studying Structural/functional and behavioural, you should be able to:

1. Describe how the various structures, functions and behaviour adapt these organisms to their environment, and way of life. ii.Categorize countershading in fish, toads, snakes and warning colouration in mushrooms.
2. Differentiate various castes in social insects like termites and their functions in their colony hive.
3. Account for basking in lizards, territorial behavour of other animals under unfavourable conditions (hibernation and aestivation). account for adaptation in organisms with respect to the following: - Obtaining food (beaks and legs of birds, mouthparts of insects, especially mosquito, butterfly and moth.) - Protection and defence (stick insects, praying mantis and toad). - Securing mates (redhead male and female Agama lizards, display of feathers by birds). - Regulating body temperature (skin, feathers and hairs) - Conserving water (spines in plants and scales in mammals).

These objectives are from the official JAMB syllabus. Use them as a checklist — if you can do each one confidently, you have mastered this topic.

Source: official JAMB UTME Biology syllabus (IBASS, jamb.gov.ng). Reproduced for study use. Last checked: 17 Sept 2026. Always confirm the current syllabus on the official portal.