diergism

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek δίς (dís, “twice”) + Ancient Greek ἔργον (érgon, “work”) + -ism.

Noun

diergism (uncountable)

1. (biology) The existence, in a single species, of two distinct ways of a structure or organ functioning.
   • 2004, Malcolm J. Low, Marcelo Rubinstein, Veronica Otero-Corchon, “Altered patterns of growth hormone secretion in somatostatin knockout mice”, in Somatostatin, →ISBN:

     Similarly‚ there is sexual diergism of GH secretion between men and women indicating phylogenetic conservation of neuroendocrine hormone rhythms.

   • 2006, Zoology in the Middle East - Volumes 37-39, page 44:

     Feeding diergism is not unprecedented in snakes (Zinner 1984, Tsairi & BOuskILa 2004) and, especially in view of the FMR in size, could conceivably occur and cause broader black rings in female Micrelaps muelleri.

   • 2007, Beatriz Carrilloa, Helena Pinosa, Antonio Guillamóna, GianCarlo Panzicab, Paloma Colladoa, “Morphometrical and neurochemical changes in the anteroventral subdivision of the rat medial amygdala during estrous cycle”, in Brain research, volume 1150:

     In conclusion, the MeAV shows functional diergism, due to plastic changes in the female rat brain probably linked to the increase of estradiol during estrous.