adaptive radiation

adaptive radiation
the diversification of an ancestral group of organisms into a variety of related forms specialized to fit different environments or ways of life, each often further diversifying into more specialized types.
[1900-05]

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 evolution of an animal or plant group into a wide variety of types adapted to specialized modes of life. Adaptive radiations are best exemplified in closely related groups that have evolved in a relatively short time. A striking example is the radiation, beginning in the Tertiary Period (beginning 65.5 million years ago), of basal mammalian stock into forms adapted to running, leaping, climbing, swimming, and flying. Other examples include Australian marsupials, cichlid fish, and Darwin's finches (also known as Galapagos finches).

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Adaptive Radiation — am Beispiel der Darwinfinken Schema der Radiation der Darwinfinken aus einem gemeinsamen Vorfahren …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • adaptive radiation — n. 1. (Palaeontology) the evolutionary generation of multiple specialized life forms from one ancestral form, evidenced in the fossil record. The inverse of {extinction}. [PJC] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • adaptive radiation — adaptive radiation. См. адаптивная радиация. (Источник: «Англо русский толковый словарь генетических терминов». Арефьев В.А., Лисовенко Л.А., Москва: Изд во ВНИРО, 1995 г.) …   Молекулярная биология и генетика. Толковый словарь.

  • adaptive radiation — n evolutionary diversification of a generalized ancestral form with production of a number of adaptively specialized forms * * * evolution from a generalized, primitive species to diverse, specialized species, each adapted to a distinct mode of… …   Medical dictionary

  • adaptive Radiation — adaptive Radiation, evolutive Fortentwicklung einer Ausgangsart in verschiedene Richtungen, d.h. Auffächerung in Arten, die an spezielle Umweltbedingungen (Nischen) angepasst sind. Ein Beispiel sind die Darwin Finken der Galapagos Inseln, die… …   Deutsch wörterbuch der biologie

  • adaptive radiation — n. Biol. the dispersal of, and adaptation to new environments by, a line of animals or plants, resulting in the evolution of divergent forms, often new species, specialized for surviving in the new habitats …   English World dictionary

  • Adaptive radiation — [ 13 finch species found on the Galápagos Archipelago, are thought to have evolved by an adaptive radiation that diversified their beak shapes to adapt them to different food sources.] An adaptive radiation is a rapid evolutionary radiation… …   Wikipedia

  • adaptive radiation — Evolutionary diversification of members of a single phyletic line into a series of different niches or adaptive zones …   Dictionary of invertebrate zoology

  • adaptive radiation — noun the development of many different forms from an originally homogeneous group of organisms as they fill different ecological niches • Hypernyms: ↑radiation …   Useful english dictionary

  • adaptive radiation — noun Date: 1902 evolutionary diversification of a generalized ancestral form with production of a number of adaptively specialized forms …   New Collegiate Dictionary

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