coadaptation

[ koh-ad-uhp-tey-shuhn ]

noun
  1. Biology. the correlation of structural or behavioral characteristics in two or more interacting organisms in a community or organs in an organism resulting from progressive accommodation by natural selection.

  2. Also called integration. Genetics. the accumulation in a population's gene pool of genes that interact by harmonious epistasis in the development of an organism.

Origin of coadaptation

1
First recorded in 1830–40; co- + adaptation

Other words from coadaptation

  • co·ad·ap·ta·tion·al, adjective
  • co·ad·ap·ta·tion·al·ly, adverb

Words Nearby coadaptation

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How to use coadaptation in a sentence

  • Harmonious adaptation (coadaptation) has here been active in a high degree, and yet these "soldiers" are sterile!

  • It is obvious that even the problem of coadaptation in sterile animals can thus be satisfactorily explained.

  • The problem of coadaptation is no easier in the case of the ant than in the case of the Giant Stag.

  • Sometimes coadaptation does not take place, as in the common brook crab, familiar to every country boy.

    Homo-culture | Martin Luther Holbrook
  • In other words, there must be coadaptation of all the parts, otherwise these larger horns would be an incumbrance and useless.

    Homo-culture | Martin Luther Holbrook

Scientific definitions for coadaptation

coadaptation

[ kō′ăd′ăp-tāshən ]


  1. The mutual adaptation of two or more genetically determined features through natural selection. Coadaptation can occur between interacting genes or structures within an organism or between two or more interacting species.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.