A gradual change in the characteristics of a population or organism within a species, typically influenced by environmental conditions within a geographic area.
From endo- + cline (from Greek klinein, 'to lean'). A cline is a gradient of traits; endocline specifies one operating within a single population or region.
If you look at a species across one valley, you might see an endocline where animals gradually get larger as you go uphill—this is different from a full speciation event, it's just populations adapting to local conditions.
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