New Developments in the Study of Species Distribution

Abstract

The distributional range of a species is determined by factors that operate with different intensities and at diverse scales (Gaston 2003). A species is currently found where abiotic conditions are favourable, where an appropriate suite of species enables co-occurrence, and in those places that can be reached in ecological time (Soberón and Peterson 2005); but the evolutionary history of a species is also highly explicative of its current range (Avise 2000; Barve et al. 2011). These factors interact dynamically to produce the complex entity that represents the geographic distribution of the species. Species distribution is a complex expression of its ecology and evolutionary biology (Brown 1995), and the study of distribution patterns therefore have a high potential to provide relevant information that can be used to understand the evolutionary history of a species (e.g. Richards et al. 2007) and guide species management and conservation policies (e.g. Guisan and Thuiller 2005)