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Biology Online
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Distribution Definition and Examples - Biology Online Dictionary
July 21, 2021 - Distribution 1. The specific location or arrangement of continuing or successive objects or events in space or time. 2. The extent of a ramifying structure such as an artery or nerve and its branches. 3. The geographical range of an organism or disease. 4. Probability.
geographical area in which a taxon can be found
Species distribution, or species dispersion, is the manner in which a biological taxon is spatially arranged. The geographic limits of a particular taxon's distribution is its range, often represented as shaded areas โ€ฆ Wikipedia
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Wikipedia
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Species distribution - Wikipedia
December 23, 2025 - Species distribution, or species dispersion, is the manner in which a biological taxon is spatially arranged. The geographic limits of a particular taxon's distribution is its range, often represented as shaded areas on a map.
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Fiveable
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Distribution Definition - AP Biology Key Term | Fiveable
Distribution refers to how individuals within a population are spaced within their region. This could be random, uniform/regularly spaced, or...
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Save My Exams
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Distribution - GCSE Biology Definition
June 11, 2025 - In GCSE Biology, 'distribution' refers to the way different species of plants and animals are spread out or arranged in an environment. This can mean looking at where specific organisms are found in a particular area, like a forest or an ocean.
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Biology LibreTexts
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45.1C: Species Distribution - Biology LibreTexts
November 23, 2024 - Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Three patterns of distribution in populations of organisms: A population may have a uniform, random, or clumped distribution. Territorial birds, such as penguins, tend to have uniform distribution. Plants with wind-dispersed seeds, such as dandelions, are usually distributed randomly.
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From the limited context of the quote, it is referring to this definition of distribution (via Merriam-Webster):

a : the position, arrangement, or frequency of occurrence (as of the members of a group) over an area or throughout a space or unit of time

b biology : the natural geographic range of an organism

Or, if that isn't simple enough, it just means where the members of the species are located. In different contexts it may be simply the range, i.e., the space where any individuals of that species are located, or it might actually refer to the density as well.

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Welcome to Biology.SE!

Species distribution is the manner in which a biological taxon is spatially arranged.

In the specific sentence you suggest, it seems that the term species range would have eventually be a little bit more appropriate though. The species range is the delimitation over space where individuals are found. The species range is just the maximum value in every possible direction of your species distribution.

Note however, that we often don't care too much about such semantic details (the sentence sounds correct to me).

Next time, please specify where you get the citation from 1) because context often matter and 2) because it is a copy right issue to not cite your source.


Same as above in simple terms

The term species distribution (and species range) describe the geographical locations of individual of the population (of a species). We are talking about a single species here. The term distribution takes the same definition than it does in statistics if you are used to it.

Imagine you have a population of oak trees. You can position every single individual tree over space Consider the drawing

Each individual is represented by a circle. The blue line represents a river.

Description of the species distribution: There are no individuals south east of the river. There is a clutch of high density at the north west of the study area.

Description of the species range is given by the red circle

The difference between species range and species distribution does not matter much for your purpose. The point is that you understand those terms are concepts describing the geographical locations of individual of the population (or the species if you prefer)

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Shmoop
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Biology Distribution Patterns - Shmoop Biology
The territory a species lives in is called its distribution, which just means where in the world that species naturally occurs. For example, the distribution of polar bears is the Arctic Circle, and the distribution of koalas is eastern and southern Australia.
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ScienceDirect
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Species Distribution - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics
Species distribution modeling (SDM) is a methodology โ€“ a set of procedures, definitions, and techniques โ€“ built on a foundation of core ecological (Whittaker et al., 1973) and biogeographical (Holdridge, 1947) concepts about the relationship between species distributions (or other biotic response variables describing aspects of biodiversity) and the physical (abiotic) environment.
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Britannica Kids
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ecology: types of population distribution - Students | Britannica Kids | Homework Help
The way a population is spaced across an area is driven largely by food supply and other resources. In uniform distribution, organisms are spread out in a fairly regular pattern. This occurs often where individuals must compete for a limiting ...
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Merriam-Webster
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DISTRIBUTION Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
3 days ago - the distribution of the country's population ยท b ยท biology : the natural geographic range of an organism ยท 3 ยท a ยท : something distributed ยท charitable distributions ยท : such as ยท (1) : a sum of money withdrawn from a fund (such as a ...
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Lumen Learning
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Biogeography and Species Distribution | Biology for Majors II
Biogeography is the study of the geographic distribution of living things and the abiotic factors that affect their distribution. Abiotic factors such as temperature and rainfall vary based mainly on latitude and elevation. As these abiotic factors change, the composition of plant and animal ...
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OpenEd CUNY
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Biology 2e, Ecology, Population and Community Ecology, Population Demography | OpenEd CUNY
In addition to measuring simple density, further information about a population can be obtained by looking at the distribution of the individuals. Species dispersion patterns (or distribution patterns) show the spatial relationship between members of a population within a habitat at a particular ...
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Fiveable
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Species distributions Definition - General Biology I Key Term | Fiveable
Species distributions refer to the geographic areas where different species are found, influenced by a range of factors including environmental conditions, habitat availability, and interactions with other species. Understanding these distributions is crucial for assessing biodiversity and ...
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Biology LibreTexts
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6.17: Population Size, Density, and Distribution - Biology LibreTexts
March 6, 2021 - The pattern may reflect characteristics of the species or its environment. Population distribution describes how the individuals are distributed, or spread throughout their habitat.
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R Quebec
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Chapter 6 The distributions of biological data | Workshop 6: Generalized linear models
Statisticians have described a multitude of distributions that correspond to different types of data. A distribution provides the probability of observing each possible outcome of an experiment or survey (for example, abundance = 8 Galumna is ...
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Cactus-art
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Distribution
Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names ยท Plants reproduce in a very different way than animals, they produce new plants by making seeds. Seeds usually move away from the parent plant in some way and grow in new places sometimes a long way from the parents.
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Biology As Poetry
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Distribution - Biology As Poetry
Organisms thus live within specific areas (their distribution) but also within specific locations within specific areas (also their distribution).
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Wyzant
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What do we mean by distribution of species? | Wyzant Ask An Expert
September 2, 2019 - The distribution of A species is the way the individuals of a single species exist across space (ex. landscapes or regions) and time (ex. seasons or centuries). The distribution of species in general is how multiple species exist across space and time.
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Study.com
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Geographic Distribution of Species | Overview & Types - Lesson | Study.com
March 6, 2025 - ... The geographic distribution of living things is the natural arrangement of the organisms including plants, animals, and others in appropriate habitats on Earth through geological time.
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JoVE
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Video: Species Distribution and Biogeography - Concept
Species Distribution Biogeography is the study of species distribution across geographic space and the processes that shape these distributions. This discipline is based on the assumption that each species within a location must have immigrated from another geographic area or evolved ...
Published ย  January 29, 2019
Views ย  11