vicariance

[vahy-kair-ee-uhns, vi-]

noun

Biology.

1. the geographical separation and isolation of a subpopulation, resulting in the original population's differentiation as a new variety or species.

vicariance

1. The separation or division of a group of organisms by a geographic barrier, such as a mountain or a body of water, resulting in differentiation of the original group into new varieties or species.

2. See also speciation

Other Word Forms

• vicariant adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of vicariance¹

First recorded in 1955–60; from Latin vicāri(us) “substituting” + -ance ( def. )

Example Sentences

However, others have argued that much of Sulawesi’s flora and fauna originated more recently, and not through vicariance, but through over-water dispersal of species from Asia and Australia in the last 15m years.

Read more on The Guardian

They also may represent early inklings of the dispersal-vicariance debate: the stepping-stone and cargo ideas are obviously about long-distance dispersal, and the notion of Atlantis as a land bridge looks like a vicariance hypothesis, with the continuous ranges of animal “kinds” being split into Old and New World portions by the drowning of the lost continent.

Read more on Salon

Dr John Sparks, a co-author from the American Museum of Natural History explained: "The sister-group relationship between obligate cave fish from Madagascar and Australia is a remarkable example of Gondwanan vicariance - a split dating back to the Late Cretaceous."

Read more on BBC

For a family with five species, as illustrated, the probability that a lineage survives to the present in both regions, creating a coalescence point at the time of the vicariance event, is 0.14 for λ = 5 and 0.04 for λ = 10.

Read more on Science Magazine

Because few shared lineages at the time of the vicariance event survive to the present, the coalescence point, traced by the green line, is pushed back earlier.

Read more on Science Magazine