vicariantn.adj.
/vɪˈkɛːrɪənt/ Ecology.
A. n.
A vicariant form of a plant or animal.
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the world > life > biology > biological processes > evolution > [noun] > parallelism or vicariance
parallelism1868
vicariism1939
vicariad1944
vicariant1952
vicariance1957
1952 L. Croizat Man. Phytogeogr. iv. 224 Cruciferae and Capparidaceae..could bear being characterized as vicariants.
1957 P. Dansereau Biogeogr. ii. 104 On the Nimba mountains of West Africa, Schell..has cited many mountain vicariants in genera of both rain~forest..and savana.
1979 Cardona & Contandriopoulos in D. Bramwell Plants & Islands viii. 155 In the Genista acanthoclada DC. group..the following subspecies are vicariants: G. acanthoclada ssp. acanthoclada (Greece and Aegean Islands), ssp. echinus (Spach) Vals. (S. Anatolia), [etc.].
B. adj.
Being or involving varieties, species, communities, or the like that have evolved out of effective contact with one another from a common ancestral stock, esp. in habitats that are similar though separated.
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the world > life > biology > biological processes > evolution > [adjective] > vicariance
vicarious1932
vicariant1952
1952 L. Croizat Man. Phytogeogr. vi. 355 This form in the end will split up into..vicariant species.
1957 P. Dansereau Biogeogr. i. 22 Vicariant varieties, subspecies, species, and genera may differ not only in leaf shape..but also in habitat requirements.
1957 A. Macfadyen Animal Ecol. i. 8 The practical advantages include the possibility of using certain ‘vicariant’ species as ‘indicator organisms’..for the detection..of certain types of habitat.
1972 D. Bramwell in D. H. Valentine Taxonomy, Phytogeogr. & Evolution ix. 153 A high degree of vicariant evolution is to be expected in an archipelago such as the Canaries where..sets of ecological conditions are replicated from east to west on a series of islands with similar vegetation zones.
1982 Sci. Amer. July 33/2 Whether they are vicariant species, with common parents but evolved in place, or whether they first became distinct and then spread is unclear.
Derivatives
viˈcariance n. the existence of vicariant forms; the separation or subdivision of a population by the appearance of a geographical barrier and subsequent differentiation.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > evolution > [noun] > parallelism or vicariance
parallelism1868
vicariism1939
vicariad1944
vicariant1952
vicariance1957
1957 A. Macfadyen Animal Ecol. xv. 223 It is also possible to use other criteria..such as frequency, dominance or even ‘vicariance’.
1972 D. Bramwell in D. H. Valentine Taxonomy, Phytogeogr. & Evolution ix. 151 Adaptive radiation..is a positive process where genetical response to the stimulus of the environment is the main factor; but vicariance, that is divergent evolution in which geographical isolation has been a very important factor, is perhaps a more passive process where the inter~action of genetic drift and weak selection result in the establishment of distinctive characters in populations which occupy essentially similar ecological habitats to their parents.
1979 Nature 15 Feb. 562/1 It is possible that the presence of hadrosaurs in Laurasia and Gondwanaland represents vicariance rather than dispersal; if so, hadrosaurs would be expected to occur on most continents.
1981 Nelson & Platnick Systematics & Biogeogr. i. 45 Speciation, at least in animals, usually involves a process of geographic isolation.., and occurs when a formerly continuous population is divided by the appearance of a barrier (a process called vicariance).
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
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n.adj.1952