Biological Aspects of Endemism in Higher Plants

Environmental tolerances of rare and common mangroves along light and salinity gradients

“…How species distribution patterns at different spatial scales are shaped and maintained by life history, demographic, genetic, and environmental processes is a fundamental focus of research in ecology and evolutionary biology (Rabinowitz 1981;Kruckeberg and Rabinowitz 1985;Gaston 1994Gaston , 2003Gaston and Kunin 1997;Rosenzweig and Lomolino 1997). Recognizing that assessments of species rarity are scale dependent (Harper 1981), Rabinowitz (1981;see also Rabinowitz et al 1986;Gaston 1994) distinguished different categories of rare species.…”

“…Among the hypothesized explanations for the restricted distributions of rare endemics compared to common widespread species is that the former have smaller fundamental niches, possessing more limited ranges of physiological tolerance or more specialized resource or other habitat requirements (Kruckeberg and Rabinowitz 1985;Boulangeat et al 2012;Slatyer et al 2013). If these requisite conditions and resources are of limited spatial extent, or are otherwise difficult to access, then the distribution and abundance of a species that depends on them will be constrained as well.…”

At the intersection of cultural and natural heritage: Distribution and conservation of the type localities of Italian endemic vascular plants

“…The reality of "always limited funds and resources for nature conservation" requires that criteria and spatial priorities for conservation be clearly identified and periodically revised (e.g., Butchart et al, 2010;de Dios et al, 2017: Margules andPressey, 2000;Platts et al, 2014) to tackle unprecedented rates of biodiversity loss at both the global and local levels. It has been widely recognized that endemic plants are, in general, not evenly distributed in space (e.g., Noss, 2017: Hobohm, 2014;Kier et al, 2009;Kruckeberg and Rabinowitz, 1985;Mráz et al, 2016). Whereas some areas are very poor in endemics, other regions, called areas of endemism, harbour high numbers of endemic taxa.…”

“…In contrast, one dilemma with mapping concerns which species should be evaluated because it is impossible to map them all (Miller and Allen, 1994;Mittermeier et al, 2004;Trisurata et al, 2012). Species confined to very small distribution areas, so-called narrow endemic species (Andersen et al, 1997;Kruckeberg and Rabinowitz, 1985;Williams et al, 1996), pose very important conservation issues due to their great vulnerability to extinction (Raedig et al, 2010) and could be considered as a priority for action, including modelling and mapping efforts. A second dilemma with mapping concerns the fact that revealing geographical locations in publications can guide unscrupulous collectors from the international trade to the species, which could lead to a rapid decline in population size and even extinction (Stuart et al, 2006).…”

Padrões de distribuição geográfica das espécies de Schefflera J. R. Forst. & G. Forst. (Araliaceae) do Brasil extra-amazônico

“…A ocorrência de espécies com área de distribuição restrita relacionadas a uma espécie com distribuição geográfica mais ampla constitui um padrão biogeográfico recorrente (Gentry 1979, Kruckeberg & Rabinowitz 1985, no entanto não é possível afirmar se as espécies endêmicas constituem casos de neoendemismo, isto é, se são resultado de eventos de especiação recente, ou paleoendemismo, se sua distribuição atual é relictual, resultado da contração de uma distribuição outrora mais ampla (Major 1988). Assim como foi sugerido em Vellozia albiflora Pohl e espécies relacionadas (Mello-Silva 1995), é provável que as espécies endêmicas nos exemplos citados tenham sido originadas independentemente a partir de ancestrais das espécies mais amplamente distribuídas, como é o caso de S. gardneri e S. macrocarpa.…”