DLPS Faculty Publications

Comments

Rights retained by the author. Evolutionary Theory 6: 225-232 (August 1983). The editors thank C.B. Cox and another referee for help in evaluating this paper. ©1983, The University of Chicago.

Abstract

Areographic analysis has traditionally depended on primary data consisting of location-specific tallies of presence or absence of given forms. In the present work, an alternate manner of representing distributions is suggested. Regional units are first established, and presence and absence of the forms under consideration in these units is noted. The relation of the biota at any given point location to all others is then established through examination of the former's characteristics of inclusion in the latter. This is accomplished by detailing regional level trends of inclusion and setting up a "second-order" distribution of associations. Two kinds of descriptive information that may be obtained through this approach are discussed, along with an example of a more exploratory kind of analysis grounded in the same mode. Discussion centers on the flexibility of the approach, which may be used to help interpret problems of either historical or ecological nature.

Disciplines

Evolution | Life Sciences | Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | Other Social and Behavioral Sciences

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