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Endemism

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Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior
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Precinctive

Endemism, a term originally described by botanist Augustin Pyramus de Condolle in 1820, refers to a species (animal or plant) which is unique to a distinct geographical area and thus an endemic species. It is, however, important to highlight the frequent lack of agreement on the exact meaning of this term due to its broad definition and use across biogeographical, ecological, and conservation contexts (Anderson 1994; Harrison 2013). Furthermore, the geographical scale can vary dramatically from specific location, such as islands, lake, mountains/volcanoes, and rivers. Some examples of species include the Amami Rabbit (Pentalagus furnessi), which is found on two Japanese islands in the Nansei archipelago (Yamada and Cervantes 2005), and the Wekiu bug (Nysius Wekiuicola), which is only found between 3415 and 4205 meters above sea level on the dormant volcano, Mauna Kea, in Hawaii (Eiben and Rubinoff 2014). Other endemic species may be found only in specific...

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References

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Correspondence to James A. Oxley .

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Oxley, J.A. (2022). Endemism. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55065-7_237

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