maladaptation
nounEtymology From mal- + adaptation.
1
The state of being poorly adapted to an environment.
Evolutionary theory or psychology
- It suggests that species interactions are likely to be in continual flux as they evolve in different ways in different populations, that local maladaptation may be an occasional and important outcome of continuing coevolution between species, and that few coevolved traits will spread across the entire geographic range of interacting species.1999 June 25, John N. Thompson, “The Evolution of Species Interactions”, in Science, volume 284, number 5423, →DOI, pages 2116–2118:
- Related terms
- maladapt