RT Journal Article
T1 Fuzzy chorotypes as a conceptual tool to improve insight into biogeographic patterns.
A1 Olivero-Anarte, Jesús
A1 Real-Giménez, Raimundo
A1 Márquez-Moya, Ana Luz
K1 Biogeografía - Modelos matemáticos
K1 Lógica difusa
AB Chorotypes—statistically significant groups of coincident distribution areas—constitute biogeographic units thatare fuzzy by nature. This quality has been referred to in the literature but has not been analyzed in depth or methodologically developed. The present work redefines chorotypes as fuzzy sets from a pragmatic perspective and basically focuseson the methodological and interpretative implications of this approach. The amphibian fauna in the Iberian Peninsula wasused as an example to explore the fuzzy nature of chorotypes. The method on which this article is based is a widely usedtechnique to define chorotypes. This method involves the fuzziness that is inherent to the identification between degree ofsimilarity and degree of membership and includes a probabilistic analysis of the classification for the objective delimitationof chorotypes. The main innovation of this paper is a procedure to analyze chorotypes as fuzzy biogeographic units. Aset of fuzzy parameters to deal with the biogeographic interpretation of fuzzy chorotypes is also described. A computerprogram has been developed and is freely available. History may be related to the degree of fuzziness of chorotypes. In ourexample, with amphibian distributions in Iberia, less fuzzy chorotypes could have a historical explanation, and the internal fuzziness of chorotypes increases with their distance to hypothetical Pleistocene refugia.
PB Oxford Academic
YR 2011
FD 2011-10-05
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10630/29734
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10630/29734
LA eng
NO Jesús Olivero, Raimundo Real, Ana L. Márquez, Fuzzy Chorotypes as a Conceptual Tool to Improve Insight into Biogeographic Patterns, Systematic Biology, Volume 60, Issue 5, October 2011, Pages 645–660, https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syr026
NO Copyright de los autores.
NO Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, Spain (CGL2006-09567/BOS);  Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion, Spain, y European Regional Development Fund, European Union (CGL2009-11316); y  Consejería de Innovación, Ciencia y Empresa, Junta de Andalucía, Spain (P05-RNM-00935)
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 19 ene 2026