Areal is what? The meaning of the word "area"

Area is an area on the surface of the earth or water, which is occupied by this or that kind of plant, animal, fish. There is even a science that studies the regularities of the appearance, development, existence of areals - areology. The influence of man on his own planet is such that we can deliberately or accidentally push, destroy, and sometimes create an area for a certain kind of creatures.

Range form

When studying this or that species, scientists draw a map of the habitat on the map using contour lines . This is necessary for studying and understanding how and how the species lives. It is impossible to find two identical forms of areals, except for such an exception, when several species are locked on an island.

Area - this is a drawing on a geographical map, which means the boundaries of the species habitat. It can be continuous, torn into several parts or ribboned, stretched along the banks of rivers, along the lowlands of the mountains. Areas can be mixed, for example, some types of oak grow massively in the middle zone of Russia, and in the south they stretch in line.

When the species is distributed in vast territories, several continents, it is called the cosmopolitan. Usually these species are unpretentious, survive in different climatic zones, multiply rapidly, and predators and humans can not cut their population down to zero.

As a result of climate change, the form of the range may change. The 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 area.

Very similar to relic endemic species that exist in a small but stable range.

Designation

To distinguish between each other and to find the areas of the area, they were thought of nomenclature numbers. After all, if the area is a geographically famous place, then it has its own longitude and latitude. However, climatic conditions, important for any species of living creatures, depend on the altitude above sea level. Therefore, the nomenclature number of the range consists of the latitudinal component - the length of the zone from north to south, the longitude component - the length of the zone from east to west, the vertical component - vertically, from top to bottom.

Size of Areas

The area in biology is a zone of several square kilometers, on which one or another kind of animal or plant lives. It can be a part of land or water, occupying from a couple of kilometers to hundreds of hectares. Under one of the classifications, areals are distinguished by their size from local to global.

The smallest and modest of them are occupied by terrestrial animals. It can be a valley or, on the contrary, a mountain range where, due to climatic features and unique soil composition, a certain type of hazel has developed and does not take root anywhere else. A good example of a narrow-local area is also a cave. Beings living in such conditions are called endemics, for example ground beetles, which live only within one or two ridges of the Caucasus. Virtually all types of non-flying insects are endemic.

Further on the size are local areas, followed by subregional and regional ones. The polyregional range of the population is a territory stretched across several continents, but no more than three, an example of a species with such a settlement is the white partridge. Areas on the territory of Eurasia are also considered poly-regional. After all, species can exist throughout Europe, Siberia and the Far East. But usually such areas are typical for aquatic species of animals, fish, plants.

The cosmopolitan area is a zone that occupies at least three continents. Some species of aquatic and marsh plants, marine animals and insects received such distribution.

Examples of populations

The areas of many animals and plants practically coincide. Remember, for sure you know the kind of animal that lives freely only in the steppes, tundra, swamps, sands. In his zone, he knows what to eat, he can hide and multiply. In the steppe, such species are hamsters, ground squirrels, steppe cockroaches and others. The Lapland plantain grows in the tundra, and the oyster owl lives and hunts in the taiga forest. The area can be stretched in its shape, usually along rivers or mountain ranges. This is due to climatic characteristics. Many aquatic animals live in such areas, and freshwater fish have no choice but to live in the river.

Sometimes the border of the range appears as a result of living beyond its border as a competitor. For example, sable and marten often live nearby, but do not enter the neighbor's territory.

Causes of rupture of areals

The range of the species is not necessarily a continuous area, there are also discontinuities. This happens for various reasons. In our time, the main reason for the rupture of areals has become a man. Deforestation of forests, construction of dams, drainage of swamps, construction of hydroelectric power stations - all this leads to the extinction of species of animals, plants and insects.

It happens that there are no differences in climatic conditions, but the area is also a picture in memory, where a territorial boundary is marked, it is difficult to explain this. Presumably in the past, climatic conditions were different, and the species was divided, preserved 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 highland chamois, on the contrary, the lowering of the height becomes the territory of separation. One and the same species of chamois is present on different mountains.

Resistance of range boundaries

Borders though and mark on the map, but they can always change. Perhaps, only island ranges remain unchanged. All the others change under changing climatic conditions. In cold winters and hard nastes, roe deer begin to increase its transitions, go to new territories in search of food, otherwise death awaits them. Yegeri feeds them to keep in their area.

As a result of warming, the ice may melt and the once uniform area may be disturbed. In this case, one of the species may be weakened, not be able to adapt to the new conditions, and it will be replaced by another. Finds of paleontologists only prove such a development option. So the area is not a stable territorial zone, for which it is necessary to fight. Everything is like people's: "If you want to live - be able to turn around!"