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EntityQ4257161· pop 46· linked from 1,496 articles

Also known as distribution, geographic range, geographic distribution, geographical range, geographical distribution, species range, taxon range, species distribution

geographical area in which a taxon can be found

~19 min read

Encyclopedic overview

A species range map represents the region where individuals of a species can be found. This is a range map of Juniperus communis, the common juniper.

Species distribution, or species dispersion, is the manner in which a biological taxon is spatially arranged. The geographic limits of a particular taxon's 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 (range). 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.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “range” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.