14 Facts About Species distribution

The geographic limits of a particular taxon's Species distribution is its range, often represented as shaded areas on a map.

Patterns of distribution change depending on the scale at which they are viewed, from the arrangement of individuals within a small family unit, to patterns within a population, or the distribution of the entire species as a whole .

Species distribution is not to be confused with dispersal, which is the movement of individuals away from their region of origin or from a population center of high density.

Disjunct Species distribution occurs when two or more areas of the range of a taxon are considerably separated from each other geographically.

An example of the effects of abiotic factors on species distribution can be seen in drier areas, where most individuals of a species will gather around water sources, forming a clumped distribution.

An advantage of a herd, community, or other clumped Species distribution allows a population to detect predators earlier, at a greater distance, and potentially mount an effective defense.

Clumped Species distribution, called aggregated Species distribution, clumped dispersion or patchiness, is the most common type of dispersion found in nature.

Clumped Species distribution can be beneficial to the individuals in that group.

Contiguous distribution is one in which individuals are closer together than they would be if they were randomly or evenly distributed, i e, it is clumped distribution with a single clump.

Random Species distribution is rare in nature as biotic factors, such as the interactions with neighboring individuals, and abiotic factors, such as climate or soil conditions, generally cause organisms to be either clustered or spread.

Random Species distribution usually occurs in habitats where environmental conditions and resources are consistent.

However, many researchers believe that species distribution models based on statistical analysis, without including ecological models and theories, are too incomplete for prediction.

Species distribution can be predicted based on the pattern of biodiversity at spatial scales.

The map gallery Gridded Species Distribution contains sample maps for the Species Grids data set.