51³Ô¹Ï

Advertisement

Advertisement

preadaptation

[ pree-ad-uhp-tey-shuhn ]

noun

Biology.
  1. a structure or property that developed in an ancestral stock and was useful in a descendant in a changed environment.


preadaptation

/ ËŒ±è°ù¾±Ëæ»åÉ™±èˈ³Ù±ðɪʃə²Ô /

noun

  1. biology the possession by a species or other group of characteristics that may favour survival in a changed environment, such as the limblike fins of crossopterygian fishes, which are preadaptation to terrestrial life
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged†2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Discover More

51³Ô¹Ï History and Origins

Origin of preadaptation1

First recorded in 1885–90; pre- + adaptation
Discover More

Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

The unending richness of our culinary imaginations shows that food, like the mouth, is an example of preadaptation.

From

Another helpful preadaptation is a snippet of DNA that enhances the activity of the genes that drive the formation of limbs in the embryo.

From

Instead, the unique body plan of pselaphines might be the preadaptation.

From

In pselaphines, the preadaptation is even less clear.

From

Indeed, when Webber . state, “Such expansion can arise when the new location has nonanalogous climates but where the values of the key climatic variables…still fall within the species’ physiological limits,†they give credit to our approach of not considering nonanalog environments, because what they describe is precisely the preadaptation situation just discussed.

From

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement