Biology / Unit 8 Bio 1695 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Adaptive Radiation
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The idea
Adaptive radiation is the rapid formation of many new species from one ancestral species as its descendants adapt to distinct, isolated niches.
In practice
Hawaiian honeycreepers radiated from one founder species into many species, each with a beak shaped for a different food source.
Where people slip
Adaptive radiation is many speciation events from one founder species — not one species spreading unchanged into new territory.
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