BioConcepts

ecotypeÖkotyp (ger.)

• A phenotype of a species which is the result of genetic or developmental adaptation to life in a specific environment; esp. a subdivision of an ecospecies with a distinctive genotype. (OED 2012)
  category modification

  1922

  The term ecotype is proposed here as ecological unit to cover the product arising as a result of the genotypical response of an ecospecies to a particular habitat.

  Turesson, G. (1922). The species and the variety as ecological units. Hereditas 3, 100-113: 112; cf. id. (1922). The genotypical response of the plant species to the habitat. Hereditas 3, 211-350: 345.

  1982

  ecotype 1: A locally adapted population; a race or infraspecific group having distinctive characters which result from the selective pressures of the local environment; ecological race. 2: A subunit within an ecospecies q. v. comprising individuals capable of interbreeding with members of that and other ecotypes within the ecospecies but remaining distinct through selection and isolation.

  Lincoln, R.J., Boxshall, G.A. & Clark, P.F. (1982). A Dictionary of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics: 76.