cline
noun
the gradual change in certain characteristics exhibited by members of a series of adjacent populations of organisms of the same species.
-clinal
-
a word derived from
-cline.
clinal
-
a word derived from
cline.
clinenounthe gradual change in certain characteristics exhibited by members of a series of adjacent populations of organisms of the same species.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I show that global variation in phonemic diversity is clinal and, like our genetic diversity, fits a serial founder effect model of expansion from Africa.
From Science Magazine ● Feb. 9, 2012
These two specimens, when compared with series of specimens from the Philippines and Sumatra, fitted into a clinal progression of increasingly rufous tertials toward Sumatra.
From Birds from North Borneo University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History, Volume 17, No. 8, pp. 377-433, October 27, 1966 by Max C. Thompson
Measurements of specimens from Wrangell and from localities progressively northward along the Alaskan coast reveal a decrease in size of the skull in a clinal fashion.
From Mammals from Southeastern Alaska by Rollin H. (Rollin Harold) Baker
Thus, these features change in a clinal fashion as one proceeds from, say, Humboldt County, California, northward to Astoria, Oregon.
From Speciation of the Wandering Shrew by James S. Findley
The clinal decrease in size from S. v. pacificus to S. v. setosus seems steepest in this area.
From Speciation of the Wandering Shrew by James S. Findley
