Species occurrences were overlaid onto

a 1° grid and merged into the respective grid cells (quadrats). This point-to-grid conversion yielded species ranges with a high degree of range porosity. In contrast to the method applied by Hopkins (2007), this approach is prone to an underestimation of species ranges. Point data, such as museum and herbarium specimen data, have proven useful for the generation of species ranges (Williams et al. 1996; Kress et al. 1998; Schatz 2002; Willis et al. 2003; Graham et al. 2004). However, there also exist some inherent drawbacks, such as heterogeneous sampling of space and taxa because of varying accessibility of areas and attractiveness of taxa to collectors (Nelson et al. 1990; Graham et al. 2004; Schulman Selleck PF477736 et al. 2007; Sheth et al. 2008) and systematic inaccuracy (Meier and Dikow 2004; Hopkins 2007; Tobler et al. 2007). This problem can in part be avoided by using revised specimen

data, which were reviewed Eltanexor chemical structure by expert taxonomists and published in form of monographs, so-called monographic data (Thomas 1999; Knapp 2002; Hopkins 2007). After reviewing the available data, we found that monographic distribution data are the most promising—because of their taxonomic correctness and reference to large areas. Since survey data on angiosperm species do not cover such a large area, monographic Ponatinib molecular weight data represent an alternative. However, these data are difficult to analyze, since standard methods used for abundance data cannot be applied. Species ranges derived from point data are not only subject to uncertainty that originates from the underlying data but also from the construction method. Examples of techniques for the estimation of species ranges are the convex hull (Willis et al. 2003; Sheth et al. 2008), the minimum spanning tree (Hernández and Navarro 2007) or the minimum bounding box (Graham and Hijmans 2006). Generating species ranges by means of a convex hull often results in overestimation of species ranges (Burgman and Fox 2003) and

ignores disjunct distribution patterns, particularly for widespread species. A refined method is the use of the alpha-hull (Edelsbrunner et al. 1983; Burgman and Fox 2003), which is based on a triangulation approach. When applying the alpha hull, first, the average distance between the occurrence points is calculated. For the resulting alpha hull, only those occurrences are considered which are connected by a line being a multiple (termed a) of this average line length. Subject to the selection of a, constructed ranges either resemble coarser (a being larger, maximum size: convex hull) or finer (a being smaller, minimum size: point) alpha hulls. Another widely used method for the estimation of species ranges is the ecological niche modeling approach.