Area is an area on the surface of the earth or water, which is occupied by a particular species of plants, animals, fish. There is even a science that studies the patterns of appearance, development, existence of areas - areology. Man's influence on his own planet is such that we can deliberately or accidentally push, destroy, and sometimes create an area for a certain type of creatures.
Shape of range
When studying a particular species, scientists draw contour lines on the map habitat. This is necessary to study and understand how and how a species lives. It is impossible to find two identical range forms, except for such an exception when several species are locked up on the island.
Area is a drawing on a geographic map that indicates the boundaries of a species' habitat. It can be continuous, torn into several parts or tape, elongated along the banks of rivers, along the lowlands of mountains. The ranges can be mixed, for example, some types of oak grow massively in central Russia, and in the southdrawn out in a line.
When a species is distributed over vast territories, several continents, it is called a cosmopolitan. Usually these species are unpretentious, survive in different climatic zones, multiply rapidly, and predators and humans cannot cut their population to zero.
As a result of climatic changes, the shape of the range may change. Temperature or humidity becomes unfavorable for this species, and it begins to die out. Such species are called relict, they have a very small residual range.
Very similar to relic endemic species that exist in a small but stable range.
Designation
To distinguish among themselves and find ranges on maps, they invented nomenclature numbers. After all, if an area is a geographically known place, then it has its own longitude and latitude. However, the climatic conditions that are important for any kind of living beings depend on the height above sea level. Therefore, the nomenclature number of the range consists of the latitudinal component - the extent of the zone from north to south, the longitude component - the extent of the zone from east to west, the altitude component - vertically, from top to bottom.
Area sizes
Area in biology is a zone of several square kilometers where one or another species of animal or plant lives. It can be part of land or water, occupying from a couple of kilometers to hundreds of hectares. Under one of the classifications, ranges are distinguished by their size from narrow local toglobal.
The smallest and most modest of them are occupied by land animals. It can be a valley or, conversely, a mountain range, where, due to climatic features and the unique composition of the soil, a certain type of hazel has developed and does not take root anywhere else. A cave is also a good example of a narrow local area. Creatures living in such conditions are called endemic, for example, beetle-shooters, which live only within one or two ridges of the Caucasus. Almost all types of flightless insects are endemic.
Further in size are local areas, followed by sub-regional and regional ones. The polyregional range of a population is a territory stretched over several continents, but not more than three; an example of a species with such a distribution is the white partridge. The ranges on the territory of Eurasia are also considered polyregional. After all, species can exist throughout Europe, Siberia and the Far East. But usually such habitats are typical for aquatic species of animals, fish, plants.
Cosmopolitan area is a zone that occupies at least three continents. Some species of aquatic and marsh plants, marine animals and insects have become so widespread.
Examples of populations
The ranges of many animals and plants are practically the same. Remember, you probably know the type of animal that lives freely only in the steppes, tundra, swamps, sands. In his zone, he knows what to eat, knows how to hide and breed. In the steppe, such species are hamsters, ground squirrels, steppe cockroaches and others. The Lapland plantain grows in the tundra, and the boreal owl lives and hunts in the taiga forest. The range may be elongated in shape, usually along rivers or mountain ranges. This is due to climatic characteristics. Many aquatic animals live in such habitats, and freshwater fish have no choice but to live in the river.
Sometimes the range boundary appears as a result of a competitor species living abroad. For example, sable and marten often live side by side, but do not enter the neighbor's territory.
Reasons for the rupture of ranges
The range of a species is not necessarily a continuous territory, there are also gaps. This happens for various reasons. In our time, man has become the main cause of the rupture of areas. Deforestation, damming, draining swamps, building hydroelectric power plants - all this leads to the extinction of animal, plant and insect species.
It happens that there are no differences in climatic conditions, but the area is also a picture in memory where the territorial border is marked, it is difficult to explain. Presumably in the past, climatic conditions differed, and the species divided, retained in its memory that the dividing territory is disastrous for it. The simplest example is that many species of plants and animals live on both sides of the Ural Mountains, but these species do not exist on them. And for the high-mountain chamois, on the contrary, lowering the height becomes a territory of separation. The same type of chamois is present on different mountains.
Stability of range boundaries
Borders although they are marked on the map, they can always change. Perhaps only the island habitats are unchanged. All others change with changing climatic conditions. With cold winters and hard crust, roe deer begin to increase their transitions, enter new territories in search of food, otherwise death awaits them. Gamekeepers feed them to keep them in their range.
As a result of warming, the ice may melt and the once unified area will be disturbed. In this case, one of the species may weaken, not have time to adapt to new conditions, and it will be replaced by another. The findings of paleontologists only prove this development option. So the range is not a stable territorial zone that must be fought for. Everything is like with people: “If you want to live, know how to spin!”
