maladaptation

English

Etymology

mal- +‎ adaptation

Noun

maladaptation (countable and uncountable, plural maladaptations)

  1. (evolutionary theory or psychology) The state of being poorly adapted to an environment
    • 1999 June 25, John N. Thompson, “The Evolution of Species Interactions”, in Science‎, volume 284, number 5423, DOI:10.1126/science.284.5423.2116, pages 2116-2118:
      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.
    Antonym: adaptation
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