adaptive radiation

American  

noun

Biology.

1. 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.

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adaptive radiation British  

noun

1. evolution of a number of divergent species from a common ancestor, each species becoming adapted to occupy a different environment. This type of evolution occurred in the Tertiary manuals and the Mesozoic reptiles

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adaptive radiation Scientific  

/ ə-dăp′tĭv /

1. The evolutionary diversification of a species or single ancestral lineage into various forms that are each adaptively specialized to a specific environmental niche. Adaptive radiation generally proceeds most rapidly in environments where there are numerous unoccupied niches or where competition for resources is minimal.

2. See Note at adaptation

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Etymology

Origin of adaptive radiation

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

adaptive radiation

The study also provides an unusually detailed view of adaptive radiation, the process through which one ancestral species rapidly gives rise to many forms suited to different habitats.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 30, 2026

Ever since Darwin examined variation in the beaks of Galápagos finches, many studies have looked at how the environment could drive such an adaptive radiation.

From Science Magazine ● Apr. 24, 2024

She may have been part of an adaptive radiation that happened earlier than researchers once thought, perhaps after hominins began to walk upright and expanded their habitats and diets, Ward says.

From Science Magazine ● Apr. 3, 2024

But what triggered the evolutionary explosion of snake diversity -- a phenomenon known as adaptive radiation -- that led to nearly 4,000 living species and made snakes one of evolution's biggest success stories?

From Science Daily ● Feb. 22, 2024

The Miocene was the mammalian Golden Age and there were crowning examples of what Osborn calls "adaptive radiation."

From The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4) A Plain Story Simply Told by J. Arthur Thomson