Adaptive radiation

Adaptive radiation is the process where a popula­tion of plants or animals evolves into a number of dif­ferent ones over time. Usually as a response to multiplying and living under different environmental conditions. Subpopulations from the common ances­tor develop as a response to adapting to the new envi­ronmental conditions. New species evolve from this original parent stock.

Impressive rapid adaptive radiations have occurred over time after mass extinctions caused by cataclysmic episodes on the Earth. Plate tectonics, vol- canism, and possible Earth-comet-asteroid collisions all have wiped the landscape clean, allowing survivors and new species to rapidly fill the voids of these new adaptive zones.