title: Relative measures of geographic range size: empirical comparisons.
abstract: Many different measures of range size are used for both empirical and conservation purposes. The possible consequences of the particular methods used in determining observed patterns of results are seldom considered. Using species of butterflies and freshwater molluses in Britain, we investigate the relationship between the range sizes measured by nine different methods and the sets of rare species they distinguish. A comparison of range sizes measured at different scales. Britain and Europe, is also made for the butterflies. We find that for many studies involving range size the various measures of range size are interchangeable. With respect to the identification of rare species the results are not as clear.
authors.affiliation: Insitute of Terrestrial Ecology, Monks Wood, PE17 2LS, Abbots Ripton, Cambridgeshire, UK.|NERC Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College at Silwood Park, SL5 7PY, Ascot, Berkshire, UK.
authors.forename: Rachel M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Quinn
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, S10 2TN, Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: Kevin J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Gaston
authors.affiliation: Insitute of Terrestrial Ecology, Monks Wood, PE17 2LS, Abbots Ripton, Cambridgeshire, UK.|NERC Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College at Silwood Park, SL5 7PY, Ascot, Berkshire, UK.
authors.forename: Henry R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Arnold
keywords: Butterflies; Conservation; Molluscs; Rarity