ecotype

plural ecotypes

1. biologyA phenotype that is adapted to a specific environment.

   These four Japanese introductions probably were of the Japonica ecotype.

   1995, C. Wayne Smith, Crop Production: Evolution, History, and Technology, page 234

   2 more examples

   She collected rhizomes of two ecotypes, a northern ecotype originally from Yellowstone County, Montana, and a southern ecotype from an agricultural field near Hollister, California.

   1997, Steven R. Radosevich, Jodie S. Holt, Claudio Ghersa, Weed Ecology: Implications for Management, page 78

   The more interesting question is, What is the difference between an endemic and an ecotype?

   1997, Mark R. Macnair, “The evolution of plants in metal-contaminated environments”, in Rudolf Bijlsma, Volker Loeschcke, editors, Environmental Stress, Adaptation, and Evolution, page 19

   Synonyms: ecospecies