An organism that has been modified or shaped by its environment to look different from other members of its species, without genetic change.
From Greek ek- (out) + -ad (suffix for organisms or things). Coined in early 20th-century ecology by botanists studying plant variation. It distinguishes environmental modification from genetic mutation.
A plant growing on a windy mountaintop will look totally different from its twin planted in a calm valley—that's an 'ecad,' and it blew botanists' minds that environment could be such a shape-shifter!
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