Vagility

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. This concept includes the freedom of movement and the evolutionary adaptation of species that allows them to migrate and inhabit various environments
2. This idea encompasses the ability of organisms to move freely across different habitats and the evolutionary traits that enable species to adapt and migrate effectively
3. This term refers to the capacity for mobility among organisms and the evolutionary processes that facilitate their adaptation to diverse environments

Etymology: Vagility is simply "vagile" plus the suffix "-ity", and the adjective "vagile" is the part that carries the meaning. It comes from Latin "vagus", "wandering" or "roaming", the same root behind "vagrant" and "vague" in its older sense of something that drifts without a fixed boundary. Biologists use "vagile" for organisms that can move about readily, so a "vagile" species is one that spreads easily across landscapes. The suffix does the grammatical work. The "-ity" ending, which passed into English through Old French and Middle English from Latin "-itas", turns a quality into a noun. "Vagility" therefore names the capacity for movement itself, the state of being mobile, rather than any single act of wandering. Ecologists and evolutionary biologists use it when they compare how far different species can travel, whether a bird crossing an ocean or a seed carried by wind.