BIOL 3500 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Bald Eagle, Lake Trout, Cosmopolitan Distribution
Document Summary
One of the biogeographer"s tasks is to study and explain the distributions and ranges of organisms and what limits them. Range the permanent area occupied by a particular species. Two species can have very similar distributions and ranges, yet occupy very different habitats: e. g. bald eagle and lake trout, both have found across na (very similar ranges), but trout are found in water and eagles on land. Endemic distribution (cid:449)he(cid:374) a spe(cid:272)ie"s range is limited to a very specific geographic area: e. g. an island, a country (scale-dependent statement) Cosmopolitan distribution when a spe(cid:272)ie"s range extends around the world in appropriate habitats: e. g. rats, people, flies. Relict distribution whe(cid:374) a spe(cid:272)ie"s ra(cid:374)ge was widespread in the past, but is now restricted i. e. may have been a cosmopolitan species, but is now an endemic species: could be result of change in conditions, etc.
