Animal distribution, as a biological process, refers to the spatial and temporal patterns by which animal populations occupy, colonize, and persist in habitats across landscapes and ecosystems. It emerges from the interaction of species-specific dispersal mechanisms, behavioral habitat selection, population dynamics, and biotic interactions such as competition, predation, and mutualism, constrained by abiotic gradients including climate, topography, and resource availability. This process underlies biogeographic patterns, metapopulation structure, range limits, and community assembly, and is quantitatively studied using approaches such as species distribution modeling, spatial ecology, landscape genetics, and movement ecology to link organismal traits and environmental heterogeneity to observed occurrence and abundance.
A new study published in the Journal of Helminthology by researchers from the Estonian University of Life Sciences and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, together with collaborators from Greenland and the Faroe ...
Plants & Animals
5 hours ago
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This year's surveys of gray seals in the Wadden Sea and on Helgoland once again show an upward trend. During the 2025–2026 survey year, 3,385 pups and 12,497 gray seals were recorded during the molting period. The results ...
Ecology
Jul 2, 2026
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Baboons are one of the most widespread of Africa's primate groups. They range across sub-Saharan Africa and into the Arabian Peninsula. Baboons' ability to spread across such a vast geographic area is based on their great ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 27, 2026
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Migratory birds such as the pied flycatcher typically have wintering locations in Africa close to others from the same breeding population. That means that birds breeding in the Netherlands run into each other again in Africa, ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 25, 2026
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If drought in an area persists longer, elephants move closer to areas near human settlements. This is the finding of research by biologist Irene Bouwman of Radboud University. During short-term droughts, the animals remain ...
Ecology
Jun 23, 2026
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An echidna in Tasmania looks very different from one in Western Australia. But the differences run much deeper than appearance. A new review published in Australian Zoologist by University of Tasmania zoologist Stewart Nicol, ...
Evolution
Jun 23, 2026
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Off Oman's coast lives a small population of just over 80 Arabian Sea humpback whales (ASHWs). They are classified as endangered and are thought to be the only humpback whale population that doesn't undertake seasonal migrations ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 19, 2026
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An international research team, which included University of Tartu visiting doctoral student Wen-Gang Zhang and Professor of Botany Meelis Pärtel, has found a new solution to one of ecology's long-standing controversies—Darwin's ...
Evolution
Jun 16, 2026
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A night dive to study wild sharks that can walk on land has surfaced with something even rarer—a species unknown to science. "New shark species don't come along that often, and it's most definitely the first one named after ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 16, 2026
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Humpback whales are one of the most popular species for whale watching. Since they are active close to the water's surface, groups of whale watchers can often see them breaching and diving during breeding periods. One popular ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 10, 2026
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