Definitions for "Stabilizing selection"
A process of natural selection that tends to favor genotypic combinations that produce an intermediate phenotype; selection against the extremes in variation.
When selection pressures favor the average form of a trait.
Natural selection where species survive by maintaining existing characters. An individual that exhibits an extreme variation of any critical character is eliminated. The population narrows in the expression of adapted traits. Stabilizing selection maintains the existing state of adaptation. Compare with disruptive selection.