Word.ws English Dictionary

Red-Queen hypothesis

Red-Queen hypothesis is the alternative form of Red Queen hypothesis.

Meaning of Red Queen hypothesis

Proper noun

the Red Queen hypothesis

  1. (evolutionary theory) An evolutionary hypothesis which proposes that organisms must constantly adapt, evolve, and proliferate not merely to gain reproductive advantage, but also simply to survive while pitted against other evolving organisms in an ever-changing environment.
    • Stenseth and Maynard Smith (1984) reformulated this hypothesis by including the idea of evolutionary lag and dismissing Van Valen's zero-sum assumption. They contrast the Red-Queen hypothesis with the stationary hypothesis, q.v. Hoffman and Kitchell (1984 in Lewin 1985a, 400) offer some support for...2000, Edward M. Barrows, Animal Behavior Desk Reference, 2nd edition, CRC Press, page 358

Questions about Red-Queen hypothesis

What is Red-Queen hypothesis the alternative form of?
Red-Queen hypothesis is the alternative form of Red Queen hypothesis.

Words near Red-Queen hypothesis in the dictionary

  1. red-orange
  2. red-pencil
  3. red-penciling
  4. red-pencilling
  5. red-point
  6. Red-Queen hypothesis
  7. red-ragger
  8. red-raggers
  9. red-red stew
  10. red-rimmed
  11. red-rumped parrot

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Red-Queen hypothesis (page history and authors); Red Queen hypothesis (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “Red-Queen hypothesis.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/red-queen_hypothesis. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.