The process of evolution by which species multiply and diverge into different niches: Adaptive radiation can be exemplified by species that are predators on different kinds of prey, and come to occupy the same, or at any rate the overlapping ranges.

The process of diversification of a single species into multiple new species: Adaptive radiation is very important in creating biodiversity patterns throughout a variety of geographical areas and ecosystems.

The invasion, through time, of a wide diversity of adaptive zones and niches by a group of organisms undergoing evolutionary diversification.