Use and Misuse of the Biotic Province Concept
- 1 January 1955
- journal article
- research article
- Published by University of Chicago Press in The American Naturalist
- Vol. 89 (844) , 21-28
- https://doi.org/10.1086/281857
Abstract
Distribution patterns of herpetofauna of Mexican Nayarit-Guerrero Biotic Province indicate that a gradual change of limiting factors (usually climatic rather than physiographic) will result in a step-wise or clinal loss of spp. from a fauna. This negates likelihood of using percentage of distinctiveness as a means of delimiting biotic provinces. Biotic province concept is misused when a new subsp. is even partially characterized by its occurrence in a different province than its nearest relative, and when a sp. range is descr. by biotic province rather than by actual specimen records, which often leads to that sp. being used to substantiate provincial limits.This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- An Annotated Checklist and Key to the Reptiles of Mexico Exclusive of the SnakesBulletin of the United States National Museum, 1950