Adaptive Radiation

Adaptive radiation, along with conservative evolution, is a central notion in evolutionary theory.  Basically, AR is the idea that when a species moves away from its parent species and settles into a new environment, new structure will arise in this species to allow it to cope with that new environment. As such, new species diverge from the parent, ancestor species. Moreover, species will go into new environments in order to exploit some resource without competition.
 

So, here’s what you should think of when you hear the word “adaptive evolution”.
1. Think – new environment.
2. Think – coming from a common ancestor.