QUANTITATIVE BIOGEOGRAPHY: AN OVERVIEW

Autor: Theodore J. Crovello
Rok vydání: 1981
Předmět:
Zdroj: TAXON. 30:563-575
ISSN: 1996-8175
0040-0262
DOI: 10.2307/1219938
Popis: Biogeography is currently in an exciting, challenging, revolutionary stage. Quantitative biogeography, both at the historical and ecological levels, will play an increasingly important role because rapidly increasing amounts of data will require quantitative methods and computer analysis. An effective way to comprehend quantitative methods and to determine when they can be effective is to consider any biogeographic study as a multistage decision process. Not only does this provide a framework for such activities, but it also emphasizes that one's conclusions are affected by decisions made at different stages of the study. The best perspective is that biogeography is an unending synthesis, both of many types of theories and of many types of data and analyses to test them. A corollary to this approach is that no single method or analysis can answer all questions of biogeographic interest. Finally, while computers and quantitative analyses can enhance the human mind, they can never replace it.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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