ecomorph

views updated

ecomorph A small difference in form or colour that distinguishes populations of a species that have become reproductively isolated fairly recently. Ecomorphs represent adaptations to very local environmental variations and may form a series (e.g. among anolis lizards, all of the species Anolis sagrei, descended from populations that were introduced experimentally to 14 very small islands in the Bahamas in the 1970s, which differ in the length of their hind legs according to the structures on which they rest).

More From encyclopedia.com

About this article

ecomorph

Updated About encyclopedia.com content Print Article

You Might Also Like

    NEARBY TERMS

    ecomorph