PROCESSES IN ECOLOGY

(BIO464)

LECTURE 7:
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
DISTRIBUTION & ABUNDANCE
Dr. Faezah Pardi
Email: faezahpardi@gmail.com
Room: Block B-317, FSG
 Learning Outcome
• Define distribution and abundance
• Point out and distinguish the spatial scale
of geographic ranges
• Illustrate the relationship between
distribution and abundance
• Describe the Hanski’s (1982) Rule

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• Distribution – spatial geographical
arrangement of a population members

• Abundance- relative representatives of a

species in a particular ecosystem

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 Spatial scale of Geographic Ranges

• How do we define a species geographic range?

Large
scale i. Worldwide- distribution of Cocos nucifera at worldwide
ii. Continental - Asia
iii. Regional – Malaysia
iv. Physiographic area- coastal area PM
v. Cluster – southern, northern, western, eastern of PM
vi. Locality – Langkawi Island
vii. Colony – P.Singa Besar, P.Tuba, P. Dayang Bunting, etc
viii.Clump – P. Singa Besar

Smaller
scale
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Spatial scale of Geographic Ranges
i. Worldwide- entire world (distribution of Cocos nucifera at
worldwide)
ii. Continental- 7 continents, Africa, Antarctica, Asia,
Europe, North America, South America, Oceania

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Spatial scale of Geographic Ranges
iii. Regional- can be defined by physical characteristics,
human characteristics and functional characteristics
(Malaysia)

iv. Physiographic area- physical features of the area

(coastal area PM)

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Spatial scale of Geographic Ranges
v. Cluster- group of a number of similar species
(southern, northern, western, eastern of PM)

vi. Locality- a place or spot with or without reference

to things or persons in it or to occurrences there
(Langkawi Archipelago)

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Spatial scale of Geographic Ranges
vii. Colony- a group of organisms of the same kind
living or growing in close association (P.Singa Besar,
P.Tuba, P. Dayang Bunting, etc)

vii. Clump- a small or close group of trees or animal sp.

(P. Singa Besar)

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 Variations in
Geographic Range Size
• Most species in a group have small geographic
ranges but few have large geographic ranges ––
birds and vascular plants shows the hollow
curve

Distribution Small geographic Large geographic

(geog. range) range range
Abundance Most species Few species

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 55% species in a group have
small geographic ranges
(1 million square km)
85% species in a group have small
geographic ranges
(1 million square km)
10%, 5%, 3%, 2% and 1% have
large geographic ranges
(up to 10 million square km)

5%, 3%, 2% and 1% have

large geographic ranges up
(9 million square km)

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 • Rapoport’s Rule (Stevens, 1989)
– Within the Mammals, geographic range size
decreases from polar to equator – range is smaller in
tropics
– Geographic range size for mammals at higher latitude
(polar) are larger than equator

Geographic
range
decrease

Geographic
range
decrease

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 a) Geographic range size for 523 sp.
of North American mammals

b) R/ship
between
geographic
range and
latitude

Canadian (60°N) mammal species

inhabit ranges that are an average
equator polar 5x larger than in Mexican (23°N)
mammals (Pagel et al., 1998)

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Ecological Mechanism of Distribution Pattern

Climatic variability is greater at higher latitudes

(polar) – animals need to have wide/broad tolerance
range – (broad tolerance – broad geographic ranges)

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 Contour Map
• A species geographic
distribution
• Density falls off at
edges
• Gradual decline of
density from centre to
edges.
• There may also be
unexpected
boundaries due to
physiological and
biological factors

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 Range size & Abundance

• More widespread species are typically

more abundant (Brown 1984; Gaston
1990)

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 more widespread
species are
typically more
abundant

Narrowly Widely
distributed distributed

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 more widespread species
(430 plots occupied)
generally tend to be more
abundant (80%)

Range size - plots occupied

Abundance - % coverage
Small range size species (10
plots occupied) generally
tend to have small coverage
(less than 1%)

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 3 Reasons why Distribution
& Abundance are Correlated
– Hanski’s (1982) Rule
I. Sampling model
• observed relationship (More widespread species are
typically more abundant )

• positive correlation has been shown among

birds, butterflies and mammals

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 3 Reasons why Distribution
& Abundance are Correlated
– Hanski’s (1982) Rule

II. Ecological Specialization Model

• Browns Model
• Species that can exploit a wide range of
resources, become widespread and
common

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 3 Reasons why Distribution
& Abundance are Correlated
– Hanski’s (1982) Rule
III. Local Population Model
• Based on dispersal ability in local patches of
populations
• Species differ in their capacity to disperse, some
occupy more patches
• Species that disperse more, occupy more patches and
become more common, when compared to less
migratory species.

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