adaptive radiation

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adaptive radiation
1. A burst of evolution, with rapid divergence from a single ancestral form, that results from the exploitation of an array of habitats. The term is applied at many taxonomic levels (e.g. the radiation of the mammals at the base of the Cenozoic is of ordinal status, whereas the radiation of Darwin's finches in the Galápagos Islands resulted in a proliferation of species).

2. Term used synonymously with cladogenesis by some authors.

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