Circumpolar distribution

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
The range of the polar bear encircles the North Pole.

A circumpolar distribution is any range of a taxon that occurs over a wide range of longitudes but only at high latitudes; such a range therefore extends all the way around either the North Pole or the South Pole.[1][2] Taxa that are also found in isolated high-mountain environments further from the poles are said to have arctic–alpine distributions.[3]

Animals with circumpolar distributions include the reindeer,[1][2] polar bear,[4] Arctic fox,[1][5] snowy owl,[5] snow bunting,[5] king eider,[5] brent goose[5] and long-tailed skua[5] in the north, and the Weddell seal[1] and Adélie penguin[1] in the south.

Plants with northern circumpolar distributions include Eutrema edwardsii (syn. Draba laevigata),[2] Saxifraga oppositifolia,[3] Persicaria vivipara[6] and Honckenya peploides.[7][8][9]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.